NETTER - Neuroscience Flash Cards

Autonomic Innervation
of the Pancreas
1. Right sympathetic trunk
2. Right greater thoracic splanchnic nerve
3. Posterior vagal trunk
4. Anterior vagal trunk
5. Celiac ganglia
6. Celiac trunk
7. Superior mesenteric ganglion
8. Superior mesenteric artery and plexus
9. Sympathetic input to the pancreas
10. Parasympathetic input to the pancreas
Comment: Pancreatic secretion is regulated by both endocrine
and neural processes. Sympathetic input derives from T5–T9
segments of the spinal cord and is distributed mainly via the celiac
ganglion. Parasympathetic input derives from the subdiaphragmatic
vagus nerve and is distributed via intramural ganglia. The
endocrine component of the pancreas secretes several vital
endocrine products, including glucagon, insulin, somatostatin, and
pancreatic polypeptide. Acetylcholine from the parasympathetic
nerves stimulates insulin secretion by pancreatic islet cells, while
norepinephrine from sympathetic nerves (and hormonal epinephrine)
inhibits insulin secretion. Acetylcholine also can stimulate a variety of
hormones from the pancreas.
Regional Neuroscience See book 9.63