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

Thursday, April 17, 2008

dopamine-ß -hydroxylase activity in the sympathetic ganglia is blocked by surgical decentralization

PNAS | June 15, 1970 | vol. 66 | no. 2 | 453-458
Copyright © 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences

Neurally Mediated Increase in Dopamine-ß -hydroxylase Activity

Perry B. Molinoff, Steven Brimijoin, Richard Weinshilboum, and Julius Axelrod

The development of a sensitive and specific enzymatic assay for dopamine-ß -hydroxylase has enabled us to measure the activity of this enzyme in several tissues where it has not previously been measured. The administration of reserpine leads to an increase in dopamine-ß -hydroxylase activity in the rat adrenal, heart, salivary gland, and in sympathetic ganglia. The increase in the heart is preceded by a small but significant fall. We have confirmed the increase in tyrosine hydroxylase which follows the administration of reserpine and have found that the activity of phenylethanolamine-N-methyltransferase also increases after administration of this drug. The activities of two enzymes not involved in the synthesis of catecholamines, monoamine oxidase and lactate dehydrogenase, are not affected by reserpine treatment. The rise of dopamine-ß -hydroxylase activity in the sympathetic ganglia is blocked by surgical decentralization.