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

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Completing the Loop: Neuron-Adipocyte Interactions and the Control of Energy Homeostasis

Control of energy homeostasis requires communication between the brain and adipose tissue. The sympathetic nervous system plays an integral role in relaying information during this process. Recent investigations indicate that the contributions of the sympathetic nervous system to the regulation of adipose tissue are greater than initially appreciated. A recently developed co-culture system provides evidence that a local feedback loop may exist between sympathetic neurons and adipose tissue. The co-culture approach may prove useful in further investigations of the interaction between sympathetic neurons and adipocytes, and might be adapted to study interactions between other types of neurons and adipose tissue.


L. C. Turtzo1, M. D. Lane1 1 Department of Biological Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Horm Metab Res 2002; 34: 607-615
DOI: 10.1055/s-2002-38245