Organ-specific sympathetic innervation defines visceral functions.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Molecular Biology
• Physiology

Background:

• The autonomic nervous system regulates bodily functions via sympathetic and parasympathetic pathways.
• Understanding the sympathetic nervous system at the cellular and molecular level is limited.
• The coeliac-superior mesenteric ganglia (CG-SMG) are key abdominal sympathetic nerve clusters.

Purpose of the Study:

• To map sympathetic nerve projections to visceral organs.
• To identify molecularly distinct sympathetic neuron populations within the CG-SMG.
• To investigate the functional roles of these distinct sympathetic populations.

Main Methods:

• Multi-modal transcriptomic analysis of CG-SMG.
• Topological mapping of sympathetic innervation to visceral organs.
• Neural perturbation experiments to assess functional roles.

Main Results:

• Identified molecularly distinct sympathetic neuron populations in the CG-SMG.
• Demonstrated selective and exclusive axonal projections from CG-SMG populations to specific visceral organs.
• Showed functional segregation: one population regulates gastrointestinal transit, another controls digestion and glucagon secretion independently.

Conclusions:

• The sympathetic nervous system exhibits molecular diversity within the CG-SMG.
• Sympathetic control of visceral organs is modular, with distinct populations regulating different functions.
• This provides a framework for understanding the complex regulation of organ function by the sympathetic nervous system.