peripheral nervous system
Sign in to savepart of the nervous system
AI overview
The peripheral nervous system is the part of your nervous system that connects your brain and spinal cord to the rest of your body, allowing you to sense your surroundings and control your movements. It matters because without it, your brain couldn't receive information from your senses or send commands to your muscles and organs.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Research
548,025 papers- Peripheral Nervous System Involvement.Hematology/oncology clinics of North America · 2020
- Peripheral nervous system involvement in Q fever.Acta neurologica Belgica · 2022
- Gross anatomy and development of the peripheral nervous system.Handbook of clinical neurology · 2013
- Peripheral nervous system manifestations of rheumatological diseases.Journal of the neurological sciences · 2021
- Bidirectional crosstalk between the peripheral nervous system and lymphoid tissues/organs.Frontiers in immunology · 2023
via PubMed
Article
The peripheral nervous system (PNS) is one of two components that make up the nervous system of bilateral animals, with the other part being the central nervous system (CNS). The PNS consists of nerves and ganglia, which lie outside the brain and the spinal cord. The main function of the PNS is to connect the CNS to the limbs and organs, essentially serving as a relay between the brain and spinal cord and the rest of the body. Unlike the CNS, the PNS is not protected by the vertebral column and skull, which protect the CNS from physical injury or by the blood–brain barrier, which protects the CNS from blood-borne pathogens and toxins, leaving the PNS more vulnerable than the CNS.
The peripheral nervous system can be divided into a somatic division and an autonomic division. Each of these can further be differentiated into a sensory and a motor sector. In the somatic nervous system, the cranial nerves are part of the PNS with the exceptions of the olfactory nerve and epithelia and the optic nerve (cranial nerve II) along with the retina, which are considered parts of the central nervous system based on developmental origin. The second cranial nerve is not a true peripheral nerve but a tract of the diencephalon. Cranial nerve ganglia, as with all ganglia, are part of the PNS. The autonomic nervous system exerts involuntary control over smooth muscle and glands.