Summary
In anesthetized rabbits and cats immobilized with succinyl choline, the discharges of sympathetic efferents supplying cutaneous and visceral regions were simultaneously recorded. The effect of thermal stimulation of the spinal cord on regional sympathetic activity was tested on the basis of the integrated discharges.
During spinal cord heating cutaneous sympathetic activity decreased, while visceral sympathetic activity increased at the same time. During cooling the reverse reaction, i.e. increase of activity in cutaneous and decrease in visceral sympathetic efferents, was observed. This antagonistic behaviour of cutaneous and visceral efferent activity was found in all rabbits and in about half of the investigated cats.
The changes of cutaneous efferent activity were in keeping with the thermoregulatory changes of cutaneous blood flow following thermal stimulation of the spinal cord. The changes of visceral sympathetic activity offer an explanation for the adjustments of intestinal blood flow observed under the same central thermal stimulus.
It is suggested as a working hypothesis that the sympathetic nervous system may perform under special conditions a sort of “reciprocal innervation” of functionally antagonistic autonomic effector systems.
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Walther, O.E., Iriki, M. & Simon, E. Antagonistic changes of blood flow and sympathetic activity in different vascular beds following central thermal stimulation. Pflugers Arch. 319, 162–184 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00592494
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00592494