Talk:Sympathetic nervous system

University Assignment
Hi there, Im student from Uskudar University. As part of my Masters program I am meant to edit the sympathetic nervous system article, as an assignment for my course. I already completed Wikipedia training modules to be proficient in Wikipedia editing. I would appreciate any support. Best wishes, L — Preceding unsigned comment added by 178.233.72.3 (talk) 19:46, 10 January 2024 (UTC)

Assessment
I am assessing this article for Wikiproject Neuroscience as C. The rating would be substantially higher if the article had more references -- it is pretty thorough and well-written. Looie496 (talk) 02:30, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

In my opinion the article is missing much more than just references. It needs diagrams - the copy from Gray's Anatomy is inadequate, and (being nearly a century old) out of date. I know it's very difficult to find diagrams which meet Wikipedia's licensing requirements, but some subjects cannot be adequately presented without good diagrams and this is one of them. Sayitclearly (talk) 05:43, 30 May 2013 (UTC)

Things to add in Sami's opinion 2. June 2012
Things should be covered more in depth. For instance to answer the question: - What is the sympathetic innervation of heart? => nucleus intermediolateralis > radix ventralis > cervical ganglion > some nucleus!!! missing right name > nervus spinalis > ramus communicans albus > truncus sympaticus > plexus cardiacus > heart.

So at least nuclei, ganglion and nervus should be mentioned in each innervation.

- SaminTietokirja — Preceding unsigned comment added by SaminTietokirja (talk • contribs) 12:40, 2 June 2012 (UTC)

Redirection from Sympathetic arousal
I arrived on this page following a redirection from "Sympathetic arousal". It seems that this page is more a description of the sympathetic nervous system and doesn't go into such detail. Some content should probably be added to this effect. --JamesPoulson (talk) 22:47, 10 June 2012 (UTC)

Please check
The statement "Sympathetic nervous system stimulation causes vasoconstriction of most blood vessels, including those of the skeletal muscle" in the "Functions" section directly contradicts the chart that lists dilation of skeletal muscle vessels. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.30.64.170 (talk) 22:50, 7 September 2014 (UTC)

An anonymous editor changed the text from L2 into L3 in the line below. Now I don't know which one is correct, so please check! Lova Falk    talk   20:06, 30 October 2012 (UTC)

"There are two kinds of neurons involved in the transmission of any signal through the sympathetic system; pre- and post- ganglionic. The shorter preganglionic neurons originate from the thoracolumbar region of the spinal cord (levels T1 - L3, specifically) and travel to a ganglion, often one of the paravertebral ganglia, where they synapse with a postganglionic neuron."

The table beside 'Functions' which describes how various organs are affected by the SNS states that the penis has detumescence inhibited by the SNS. Based on my reading this seems to be misleading as it normally plays a role in causing detumescence, not necessarily inhibiting it.

This isn’t really a reply, sorry, but the reference link to “fight-flight-freeze” goes to a page that only discusses fight and flight. No mention of freeze. Entwhiz (talk) 00:51, 4 May 2020 (UTC)

Adrenal Medulla/ neurotransmitters
The discussion of the neurotransmitters used in the adrenal medulla is unclear; the sentence structure suggests that the adrenal medulla contains post-synaptic axons which secrete acetyl choline at their pre-synaptic terminals. It would be helpful if this was reworded so it is more apparent that adrenal medulla acetyl choline-releasing cells are presynaptic, and that the exception to the rule of ANS postganglionic neurotransmitters is NOT the secretion of acetyl choline, but the secretion of epinephrine. Dansoram (talk) 20:55, 15 November 2012 (UTC)
 * Cool. Since you seem to know what you're talking about, you should feel free to edit the article directly. Regards, Orange Suede Sofa  (talk) 03:15, 16 November 2012 (UTC)

Opening line confusion.
"The (ortho-) sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is one of the two main parts of the autonomic nervous system, along with the enteric and parasympathetic systems."

If the sympathetic nervous system is one of two main parts, it should only be "along with" one other main part: unless there are three are really three main parts. The term 'major' would also be a little more accurate and clearer than 'main' I think. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.111.182.167 (talk) 08:08, 8 February 2013 (UTC)

The several related articles ( autonomic, ortho-,  para- and  enteric) disagree on how many divisions there are in the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic talk page asserts that enteric is its own system, not a part of the autonomic system. Somebody who knows more than I needs to resolve the inconsistencies in all of these articles. Jeffryfisher (talk) 19:49, 23 May 2013 (UTC)

sympathicotonia
sympathicotonia (and vagotonia) can become - if you follow the unsubstiantiated german wikipedia-arcticle: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympathikotonie - a chronic state, a character type. does anybody know more on this and about the relevant literature? thanx! --HilmarHansWerner (talk) 15:07, 30 September 2013 (UTC)
 * sorry, dear wikipedians: quite outrageous what happens here...! some authoritarian guy, fighting with closed visor, seems to want to suppress a topic and its discussion...! the order from the central command is: "Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page." - but where is this? the keyword "sympathicotonia" redirects here, and the section "Clinical significance", where "sympathicotonia" is dealt with (whereas it deserves an own section), is wholly inadequate... so discuss openly, including citations please, and do not behave in the manner of medieval inquisition! thank you! --HilmarHansWerner (talk) 05:00, 11 December 2014 (UTC)

Use of abbreviation SN
There is currently little need for the use of this abbreviation in the article and no evidence of it being in common use elsewhere. benrusholme (talk) 18:24, 16 November 2014 (UTC)
 * Thanks for pointing this out, . I agree that this abbreviation is not useful, please feel free to change it (and make any other edits to make this article clearer!). Cheers, --Tom (LT) (talk) 22:00, 18 November 2014 (UTC)

Adrenal gland innervation in the picture
Am I mistaken in thinking that the picture incorrectly depicts the adrenal medulla as receiving sympathetic postganglionic innervation? See how there's a nerve starting from the celiac ganglion and going to the adrenal gland? I'm in the process of learning about these things, and the picture confused me because it seems to contradict the text (which says the adrenal medulla receives preganglionic sympathetic innervation, and that it is in effect, a specialised sympathetic postganglionic neuron). Do the nerves simply go through the celiac plexus and not synapse within it? SamOwenI (talk) 11:36, 13 May 2015 (UTC)
 * Well spotted ! The image is from a CNX textbook, and I've submitted an errata report. As far as I'm aware only the adrenal medulla receives innervation and you are correct that these are preganglionic fibres. Hopefully it will be fixed soon and we can upload the new image within short. Also remember to sign talk-page comments with four tildes as in: . Thanks! -- CFCF  🍌 (email) 12:28, 28 February 2015 (UTC)

Sympathetic tone redirects here
Any chance someone with expertise could briefly add an explanation of what this means to the article?

N o f o rmation Talk  12:00, 30 April 2015 (UTC)


 * Arising from a recent (09 Dec 2018) Science Reference desk query, I second this request. In discussion of the query, Editor said "It's a qualitative way of referring to the activation of the sympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic counterpart is vagal tone -- and I suppose vagal tone often dramatically decreases during these experiences as well."
 * As a layman in this area, this leaves me with several questions, such as "how is sympathetic tone measured?" and "what effects do variations in sympathetic tone have on the body (and brain)?" In parallel with Vagal tone, I suggest that Sympathetic tone should have its own article, rather than be a redirect to this (Sympathetic nervous system) article where it is mentioned only once, without definition. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.202.210.56 (talk) 15:26, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

Table of 'Autonomic nervous supply to organs' in the 'Organisation' section
This table probably needs a big overhaul. The layout implies that both the PNS and SNS fibres in the 'Nerves' column, arise from the spinal roots listed in the 'Spinal Column' column. Unless my anatomy is way off, the listed spinal roots are the source of SNS innervation only. The PNS innervation is from vagus (as it states in the Nerves column), which is a cranial nerve (and does not travel down the spinal column).

My suggestion would be columns for 'Organ' (unchanged), 'SNS Innervation' (listing specific nerves, then their spinal root origins), and 'PNS Innervation' (again listing specific nerve/branch, then listing the origin as vagus/cranial nerve X).

A more detailed way to divide the table would be to have columns for 'Organ', 'SNS origin', 'Distal SNS innervation', 'PNS origin', and 'Distal PNS innervation'.

Hope this is useful to somebody that knows how to tabulate. Right now I'm not in the headspace/workspace to be able to learn. Doctorbass00 (talk) 09:07, 9 February 2018 (UTC)

Homeodynamics?
Is it possible that the article means hemodynamics rather than this term (not recognized in the Oxford dictionary): homeodynamics? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.122.189.89 (talk) 21:17, 8 December 2019 (UTC)

Possible confusion of what this is related to
It would be convenient if there was some sort of introduction in the page, saying what the topic in general is. Nervous systems of plants, algae, mammalia? With a link to "nervous system, for instance" If you happen to stumble upon this page with no previous knowledge, you wouldn't know what is this linked to. Kuithei (talk) 12:28, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

Sympathetic
Initially think to write Raj803048 (talk) 11:21, 30 January 2022 (UTC)