The amount of compensatory sweating depends on the patient, the damage that the white rami communicans incurs, and the amount of cell body reorganization in the spinal cord after surgery.
Other potential complications include inadequate resection of the ganglia, gustatory sweating, pneumothorax, cardiac dysfunction, post-operative pain, and finally Horner’s syndrome secondary to resection of the stellate ganglion.
www.ubcmj.com/pdf/ubcmj_2_1_2010_24-29.pdf

After severing the cervical sympathetic trunk, the cells of the cervical sympathetic ganglion undergo transneuronic degeneration
After severing the sympathetic trunk, the cells of its origin undergo complete disintegration within a year.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1439-0442.1967.tb00255.x/abstract

Friday, April 18, 2008

Calcitonin gene-related peptide and substance P contribute to reduced blood pressure

S. C. Supowit,1 R. T. Ethridge,2 H. Zhao,3 K. A. Katki,1 and D. J. DiPette1

1Department of Medicine, Texas A&M University System Health Science Center College of Medicine and Scott & White Health System, Temple, Texas; 2Department of Surgery, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas; and 3Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan

Submitted 21 September 2004 ; accepted in final form 4 May 2005

CGRP and substance P (SP) are produced in dorsal root ganglia (DRG) sensory neurons and modulate vascular tone. Sympathetic and sensory nerves compete for NGF, a potent stimulator of CGRP and SP, and it has been suggested that sympathetic hyperinnervation in spontaneously hypertensive rats may reduce the availability of NGF to sensory nerves, thus reducing CGRP and SP. The purpose of this study was to determine whether destruction of peripheral sympathetic nerves in normal rats would increase the availability of NGF for sensory neurons and enhance expression of CGRP and SP. Sympathectomy was produced in rats by guanethidine sulfate administration. Control rats received saline. Sympathectomized rats displayed reductions in blood pressure (BP) and atria norepinephrine levels, whereas NGF levels in the DRG, spleen, and ventricles were increased. Sympathectomy also enhanced CGRP and SP mRNA and peptide content in DRG. Administration of CGRP and SP receptor antagonists increased the BP in sympathectomized rats but not in the controls. Thus sympathectomy enhances sensory neuron CGRP and SP expression that contributes to the BP reduction.