Network of the sympathetic nervous system: Focus on the input and output of the cervical sympathetic ganglion

Unlike the thoracic and lumbar sympathetic nervous systems with paravertebral ganglions in individual spinal segments, the cervical sympathetic nervous system lacks segmental structures corresponding to the spinal segments and only three ganglions, namely the upper and middle cervical ganglions and the stellate ganglion, are present. Single axons have been observed in the ganglions using an anterograde-labeling method to analyze their expansion in order to investigate the relationship between the cervical sympathetic ganglions and the spinal cord in rats. Although segmental structures were not confirmed in the upper cervical ganglion, segmental structures were demonstrated in the stellate ganglion. Next, it was determined that some sympathetic preganglionic neurons, nitric oxide synthetase-positive preganglionic neurons, form dense nerve endings on the upper cervical ganglion neurons that project onto organs closely related to glandular secretion in the head and neck region. Finally, the relationship between the cell body size of upper cervical ganglion neurons and the size of the target was investigated for the three major salivary glands in rats and it was determined that no direct relationship was present.