Postganglionic fibers
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
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Overview
In the autonomic nervous system, fibers from the ganglion to the effector organ are called postganglionic fibers.
Neurotransmitters
The neurotransmitters used for postganglionic fibers differ:
- In the parasympathetic division, they are cholinergic (that is, they use acetylcholine as their neurotransmitters.)
- In the sympathetic division, most are adrenergic (that is, they use norepinephrine as their neurotransmitters.) One exception of this is the sympathetic innervation of sweat glands, which uses acetylcholine as a neurotransmitter at both pre and post ganglionic synapses.
See also
External links
- Diagram of postganglionic neuron and its synapse at sns-web.org
- Diagram at University of Waterloo