Talk:Parasympathetic nervous system

Untitled
Can someone please consider addding "Function" as a section to this? --Destrogal 01:35, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Is this article still a stub??? Should I expand on it more?? --LowLifer 05:17, 14 July 2005 (UTC)

It was helpful to me to see this article listed under parasympathetic. Would people doing research know to look for it under a different title?

Merging this article would be false. An antiparasympathetic agent is the OPPOSITE of a parasympathetic agent.

Would it really be that false? I mean, just redirect pages, and make it perfectly clear that an antiparasympathetic agent ISN'T a parasympathetic one.

I think its good to keep the two articles separate. It kind of confuses people. --LowLifer 13:17, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, keep them seperate. antiparasympathetics are a major class of drugs and, though they deserve mention within the parasymp article, this stub has the potential to become a mature article. --anon

I was hoping for some mention of occasions when the balance is disrupted, and unintended effects occur in the gastrointestinal tract. I believe this is sometimes referred to as parasympathetic overreaction.

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 28 January 2019 and 17 May 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Savannagavan. Peer reviewers: Savannagavan.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 06:07, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

The sacral autonomic outflow is sympathetic
Apparently, the text books - and this article - need to be re-written. I'm not enough of an expert to evaluate this and change the entry, but would like to point out:

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/354/6314/893

90.199.222.122 (talk) 08:25, 18 November 2016 (UTC)

Confusing
The first paragraph is confusing me. Why does the second sentence start describing what the ANS does without finishing the explanation of what the parasympathetic nervous system is/does? I'm reading this article because I don't know anything about PNS, and to me it seems like the article assumes I should know more about it than I do. 76.123.165.106 (talk) 23:56, 20 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Two years later, I think I've resolved this. mcs (talk) 21:50, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

Grammatical and typographical error corrections
Under the first section: Relationship to the sympathetic nervous system, we have:


 * Sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions typically function against one another. But we cant say it as antagonistic, better to term it as complementary in nature. Think of the sympathetic division as the accelerator and the parasympathetic division as the brake.

I would suggest the following corrections to grammar and wording to make the points clearer.


 * Sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions typically function in opposition to each other. But this opposition is better termed complimentary in nature rather than antagonistic. For an analogy, one may think of the sympathetic division as the accelerator and the parasympathetic division as the brake.

I have already taken the liberty of inserting the apostrophe missing in "cant" of the original text and replaced the comma after "antagonistic" with a semicolon which reflects better punctuation. --Blue Fire--

Blue Fire 03:58, 8 November 2006 (UTC) I have made the changes above as of Nov. 11, 2006

Under the M2 part of the receptors section the text reads: "Note, they have no minimal on the contractile forces of the ventricular muscle..." I suggest "no minimal" be replaced with "minimal effect."

Effect of M3 receptors on blood vessels
Acetylcholine causes smooth muscle contration, therefore vasocontriction. It's vasodilative properties are due to the effect on endothelial cells, mediated by nitric oxide

201.53.20.243 (talk) 05:21, 24 June 2008 (UTC)Carlos Daniel Llosa

Physical Location
I just spent some time cleaning this section up. Please be sure not to put stuff in there that doesn't have to do with physical location. mcs (talk) 21:52, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

Acronym Choice
I think a more helpful acronym for parasympathetic stimulation would be the one I learned in paramedic and fire training (SLUDGEM) to identify cholinesterase inhibitor poisoning from organophosphate pesticides and nerve toxins: Salivation Lacrimation Urination Defecation Gastric Motility (somewhat more specific than digestion) Emesis Miosis I can't source this, but I'm sure it's out there. I don't know if suggesting a mnemonic comprises original research if all of the effects of the mnemonic can be sourced; however, I believe this mnemonic to be more complete and easier to remember. 99.6.3.205 (talk) 13:47, 12 June 2011 (UTC)Petakia


 * Hi there. Sounds good to me. I would suggest you just "be bold" and add it. You can say, "Some mnemonics include..." and then include both in order to avoid deleting the old one. Don't worry about the sourcing for now. Of course it's always better to have one, but you're acting in good faith, and if someone has a problem with it, they'll take it down and you can worry about finding a source then. mcs (talk) 18:07, 12 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Hello. This article begins with "The parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS) is one of the two main divisions of the autonomic nervous system (ANS)."  The word "enteric" never appears in this article (according to my page search with Ctrl-F).  But the article on the Sympathetic NS begins "The (ortho-) sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is one of the three parts of the autonomic nervous system, along with the enteric and parasympathetic systems."  The article on the Autonomic NS also mentions the Enteric NS.  I believe some expert should better harmonize this (PSNS) page with those.  Scholar41 (talk) 09:29, 24 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Hi. Does anyone ever really refer to the parasympathetic nervous system as the "PNS"?  Wouldn't that get easily confused with the Peripheral nervous sytem (PNS)?  I think this is a misleading acronym in the first sentence.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.23.248.214 (talk) 20:14, 7 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Hi 152.23.248.214! You are quite right, and I removed the PNS. W152.23.248.214 Friendly regards!  Lova Falk     talk   08:08, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

What does "involuntary" mean?
If voluntary decisions (as shown in the Benjamin Libet experiment among others) is an illusion anyway, then there can be no division into "voluntary" and "autonomical", so the whole term "autonomical nervous system" is misframed. Then it is the making up of afterconstructs that limits what is "voluntary". This explains why extreme recoveries after brain damage and other cases of extreme neuroplasticity are linked to tolerant environments (as shown by Kurt Fischer and Christina Hinton in "Mind, Brain and Education" and by Norman Doidge in "The brain that changes itself") which does not create pressure to justify one's actions, as well as why techniques for will-based change of "autonomical" functions invariably come from cultures that do not believe in pure good and pure evil and never from, say, abrahamitic cultures (their belief in pure good and pure evil creates strong pressure to justify one's actions). See the articles "Moderating the free will debate" and "Brain" on topic page "Psychology" and the topic page "Advice of ways to stop justifying" at Pure science Wiki 37.250.198.95 (talk) 12:47, 2 April 2013 (UTC)
 * Libet and others have shown problems with the theories that people hold about voluntary and involuntary behaviors, but the terms are still useful in an operational way for distinguishing two types of behaviors, those that people can perform in response to instructions and those that they can't. For example, clenching your hand into a fist is voluntary; slowing your heart rate or emitting a genuine smile (as opposed to a fake smile) are involuntary for most people. Looie496 (talk) 15:29, 2 April 2013 (UTC)
 * But the examples of tolerant environments in brain recoveries, as well as instructed changes being concentrated to cultures without belief in pure good or pure evil, shows that the term "most people" is highly parochial. 95.209.92.81 (talk) 16:46, 2 April 2013 (UTC)
 * If you're proposing a change to this article, could you be more clear about what sort of change you are proposing? Looie496 (talk) 17:23, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

Is Heart Rate Variability related to the functioning of the parasympathetic nervous system?
I couldn't find any mention of the Heart Math studies on the relationship between Heart Rate Variability and the parasympathetic nervous system on the main page. Is a mention justified here ? John Mudie (talk) 06:55, 1 August 2014 (UTC)

Lungs and Heart
Anyone know why the lungs and heart aren't listed in the Organ chart? I don't have a written reference handy for this, though I suppose I could just cite the Thieme atlas that's on my bookshelf. --Karinpower (talk) 03:07, 4 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Thanks for pointing this out. No reason, please feel welcome to add it (but if you're adding a source, please include the page number too). --Tom (LT) (talk) 09:00, 4 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Does the chart even belong there - it's labelled autonomic nervous system and only refers to the vagus nerve...? Iztwoz (talk) 09:04, 4 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Also - the cardiopulmonary nerves belong to the sympathetic nervous system. Iztwoz (talk) 12:04, 4 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Hence why I'm posing the question rather than making an edit myself. I have a science background and have studied Peter Levine's approach to trauma resolution but not a vagus nerve expert. Have heard osteopaths talking about working with the vagus nerve to the lungs, and the vagal brake on the heart is a famous aspect of parasympathetic function. But as I mentioned, I don't have sources handy and prefer not to edit where I'm not completely confident in my understanding. Looking forward to hearing what others have to say.

(Also, may I say, I rather like the chart and the fact that it indicated both sympathetic and parasympathetic contributions. To say that those organs are innervated by vagus is useful but good to know what else does too to give it perspective.) --Karinpower (talk) 04:00, 5 December 2014 (UTC)

Inaccurate information on Parasympathetic cell bodies [Structure section]
The article inaccurately states that cell bodies are found in the spinal cord between T12-L1. PSNS cell bodies are found in the S2-S4 spinal NERVES. The source the author cited was specifically talking about the spinal cord originating from the cranium and terminating at L2, not the spinal nerves of the parasympathetic system. The correct information can be found in numerous textbooks and articles, such as the same source the author used but with the correction section https://www.emory.edu/ANATOMY/AnatomyManual/nervous_system.html.

-Adammb91 4/18/18

More sources stating that the preganglionic PSNS neurons originate in the S2-S4 sacral spinal nerves and not the IML of the spinal cord. http://www2.highlands.edu/academics/divisions/scipe/biology/faculty/harnden/2121/notes/ans.htm https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1959222/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by Adammb91 (talk • contribs) 18:15, 19 April 2018 (UTC)