Key Points

PNS
somatic vs visceral; spinal vs cranial; general vs special; ANS
Spinal Nerves
dorsal vs ventral; ganglian, 1+3, connections; embryonic developments.

Peripheral Nervous System

Somatic nerves pass to or from somatic tissues skeletal muscle, skin, and
their derivatives.
Visceral nerves pass to or from viscera involuntary muscles and glands.

Afferent, sensory neuron vs. Efferent, motor neuron

The components of the PNS that control visceral activity constitute the
autonomic nervous system (ANS).
Spinal nerves emanating from the spinal cord and cranial nerves
emanating from the brain.

Peripheral Nervous System

Nerves have two additional properties based on their distribution.
Neurons are termed general if the innervated tissues are widely
distributed, or special if the tissues are restricted in location.
Thus, general somatic neurons innervate sense organs or supply effectors
to the integument and most striated muscles.
Special somatic neurons are associated with somatic sense organs (e.g.,
eyes, olfactory organs, inner ears) or effectors (e.g., branchiomeric
muscles, ciliary eye muscles, extrinsic ocular muscles) that are limited in
distribution.
General visceral neurons innervate sensory organs or supply effectors in
glands or smooth muscles of the digestive tract, heart, and other viscera.
Special visceral neurons concerned with sensory input innervate the taste
buds and olfactory epithelium.

PNS Spinal Nerves

Spinal nerves are sequentially arranged and numbered (C-1, T-1, L-1, S-1)
according to their association with regions of the vertebral column
(cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacral).
Afferent fibers enter the spinal cord via the dorsal root, and efferent
fibers leave by way of the ventral root.

PNS Spinal Nerves

The dorsal root ganglion, a swelling in the dorsal root, is a collection of
neuron bodies whose axons contribute to the spinal nerve.
Parallel to the spinal cord and attached to each spinal nerve through the
ramus communicans is the sympathetic chain of ganglia (paravertebral
ganglia), a paired series of linked ganglia adjacent to the vertebral column
or notochord.
Other peripheral ganglia form the collateral ganglia (prevertebral
ganglia). The paired cervical, coeliac, and mesenteric ganglia are examples
of the collateral ganglia.

The visceral ganglia occur within the walls of visceral effector organs.
Thus, there are three types of ganglia: sympathetic, collateral, and
visceral.

PNS Spinal Nerves

Spinal nerve anatomy.

(a) Dorsal and ventral roots
connect spinal nerves to the
spinal cord. A dorsal root is
enlarged into a dorsal root
ganglion. Spinal nerves join with
the sympathetic chain through
communicating rami.
(b) Configuration of sensory and
motor neuronal routes in an
adult mammal.

PNS Spinal Nerves

Peripheral nerves in the trunk arise during embryonic development from
two sources.
To differentiate within the spinal cord. Axonal processes sprout from these neurons and
grow outward to the ganglia or to the effectors they supply.
To migrate from the neural crest to specific locations and sprout processes that grow
back to the CNS and out to the tissues they innervate.

The ventral roots arise from neurons in the spinal cord that send fibers
out from the spinal cord.
The dorsal root arises from cells of neural crest origin that send fibers
into the spinal cord.
In gnathostomes, the two roots usually merge to form the composite
spinal nerve and attached sympathetic chain.

PNS Spinal Nerves

(a) The neural crest forms from ectoderm during neurulation and becomes organized as
segmental populations of cells arranged dorsally along the neural tube.

PNS Spinal Nerves

PNS Spinal Nerves

From this dorsal location, some cells migrate (open arrows) to specific
sites within the body, forming distinct populations of neural cells at these
sites.
Neurons differentiating within the primordial dorsal root sprout cell
processes that grow back to the neural tube and out to both somatic and
visceral tissues. Neuronal bodies that remain in position constitute
the dorsal root ganglion.

Neurons differentiating within other populations grow cell processes to

effectors, and their bodies constitute ganglia.
Motor neurons differentiate within the neural tube and grow cell
processes to these peripheral ganglia or directly to effectors.

PNS Spinal Nerves

(a) Cross section of a generalized vertebrate. Note the distribution of spinal nerves to axial and
appendicular muscles.

PNS Spinal Nerves

Each growing spinal nerve tends to accompany its adjacent embryonic

myotome, the source of somatic muscles, and its dermatome, the
source of dermal connective tissue and muscle, as they spread and
differentiate during development.
Once it is differentiated, a spinal nerve supplies the skeletal muscles
derived from its adjacent myotome and receives somatic sensory input
from the restricted area of the body surface differentiated from its
dermatome.