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The central autonomic network. Nearly all of the cell groups illustrated here are interconnected with one another, forming the central autonomic network.
A. Main afferent pathways. Visceral information (solid lines) is distributed to the brain from the nucleus of the solitary tract and from ascending spinal
pathways activated by the splanchnic nerves (from the gut, for example). The nucleus of the solitary tract distributes this information to preganglionic
parasympathetic neurons (the dorsal motor vagal nucleus and nucleus ambiguus), to regions of the ventrolateral medulla that coordinate autonomic and
respiratory reflexes, and to more rostral parts of the central autonomic network in the pons (parabrachial nucleus), midbrain (periaqueductal gray), and
forebrain. The
parabrachial
nucleus Motor
also projects
to many
of the more rostral
components
of the central
autonomic network, including visceral and
Source:
The Autonomic
System and
the Hypothalamus,
Principles
of Neural Science,
Fifth Editon
gustatory nuclei of the thalamus (dashed lines). Other pathways from the spinal cord (not shown) also transmit visceral information to many parts of the
Citation: Kandel ER, Schwartz JH, Jessell TM, Siegelbaum SA, Hudspeth AJ, Mack S. Principles of Neural Science, Fifth Editon; 2012 Available
central autonomic network, including the nucleus of the solitary tract, parabrachial nucleus, periaqueductal gray, hypothalamus, amygdala, and cortex. The
at: http://mhmedical.com/ Accessed: April 29, 2017
spinal cord also projects to the main somatosensory nucleus of the thalamus (ventral posterolateral nucleus).
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B. Main efferent pathways. All of the pathways shown here (except perhaps for the periaqueductal gray) project directly to autonomic preganglionic