Sympathetic trunk

Nerve: Sympathetic trunk
Abdominal portion of the sympathetic trunk, with the celiac plexus and hypogastric plexus. (Sympathetic trunk labeled at center left.)
Scheme showing pathways (white/grey rami are spatially reversed, possibly for clarity?) of a typical spinal nerve. 1. Somatic efferent. 2. Somatic afferent. 3,4,5. Sympathetic efferent. 6,7. Parasympathetic afferent. NOTE: THIS IMAGE MERELY DEPICTS PATHWAYS - IT IS NOT ANATOMICALLY CORRECT. THE EFFERENT SYMPATHETICS EXIT IN A LOOP - ENTERING THE MORE LATERAL WHITE AND EITHER EXITING THE MORE MEDIAL GREY OR TRAVELING UP/DOWN THE CHAIN TO EXIT GREY AT OTHER GANGLIA. THIS IMAGE SHOULD BE REPLACED OR SUPPLEMENTED. SEE http://home.comcast.net/~wnor/sympatheticchain.jpg FOR CLARIFICATION.
Latin	truncus sympathicus
Gray's	subject #214 976

The sympathetic trunks (sympathetic chain, gangliated cord) are a paired bundle of nerve fibers that run from the base of the skull to the coccyx.

Structure

The sympathetic trunk travels in a downward direction from the skull, just lateral to the vertebral bodies. It interacts with the spinal nerves or their ventral rami by way of rami communicantes.

The superior end of it is continued upward through the carotid canal into the skull, and forms a plexus on the internal carotid artery; the inferior part travels in front of the coccyx, where it converges with the other trunk at a structure known as the ganglion impar.

Along the length of the sympathetic trunk are ganglia known as paravertebral ganglia.

Function

The sympathetic trunk is a fundamental part of the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system. It allows nerve fibers to travel to spinal nerves that are superior and inferior to the one in which they originated. Also, a number of nerves, such as most of the splanchnic nerves, arise directly from the trunks.

Additional images

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  The formation of the spinal nerve from the dorsal and ventral roots.

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  Transverse section of thorax, showing relations of pulmonary artery.

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  The thoracic aorta, viewed from the left side.

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  Dissection of side wall of pelvis showing sacral and pudendal plexuses.

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  Sacral plexus of the right side.

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  Diagram of efferent sympathetic nervous system.

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  Sympathetic connections of the ciliary and superior cervical ganglia.

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  Sacral sympathetic

See also

• Horner's syndrome

External links

• SUNY Figs 21:04-04 - "The position of the right and left vagus nerves, and sympathetic trunks in the mediastinum."
• SUNY Labs 43:15-0102 - "The Female Pelvis: The Posterolateral Pelvic Wall"
• -1764753348 at GPnotebook
• Sympathetic+trunk at eMedicine Dictionary
• Atlas of anatomy at UMich n3a6p1 - "Autonomic Connections of the Spinal Cord"
• Diagram at umm.edu

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.