Nervous control of the gills

The fish gill is a highly complex organ that performs a wide variety of physiological processes and receives extensive nervous innervation from both afferent (sensory) and efferent (motor) fibres. Innervation from the latter source includes autonomic nerve fibres of spinal (sympathetic) and cranial (parasympathetic) origin whose primary role is to induce vasomotor changes within the respiratory or nonrespiratory pathways of the gill vasculature. Autonomic control of the gill occurs by nerve fibres identified as adrenergic, cholinergic, and more recent evidence indicates that nonadrenergic-noncholinergic (NANC) nerve fibres, such as those that express amines, peptides, or nitric oxide, may also play an important role. The distribution and physiological function of NANC nerve fibres, however, is less clear. This review primarily discusses histochemical studies that have characterized the nervous innervation and autonomic control of the gill vasculature. In addition, supporting evidence from recent studies for the efferent control, or modulation, of other homeostatic processes in the gill is examined.