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

Monday, April 21, 2008

sympathectomy on insulin receptors and insulin action

Insulin receptors and effects of insulin on lipolysis, lipogenesis and glucose transport were investigated in fat cells obtained from rats chemically sympathectomized with 6-hydroxydopamine. Four days after a single injection of 6-hydroxydopamine (50 mg/kg), the norepinephrine content of the epididymal adipose tissue was reduced by 97.5%. The number of high-affinity insulin binding sites was increased moderately (16%). In parallel, the sensitivity to insulin of the isoprenaline-stimulated lipolysis was increased as judged from insulin concentrations yielding half-maximal inhibition which were lower (40%) in the treated group. Glucose metabolism, however, was inhibited by chemical sympathectomy: the glucose transport rate was significantly reduced and fatty acid synthesis was nearly totally abolished. Insulin was still effective in stimulating both parameters but failed to restore normal levels. The results suggest that the sympathetic innervation of adipose tissue may exert an inhibitory effect on the number of high-affinity insulin receptors as well as on the sensitivity of the lipolysis to insulin, as both parameters were increased by sympathectomy. To explain the inhibitory effect of 6-hydroxydopamine treatment on glucose transport and fatty acid synthesis, a possible trophic effect of the sympathetic innervation is discussed as well as indirect mechanism counteracting the effects of the chemical sympathectomy.

Effects of chemical sympathectomy on insulin receptors and insulin action in isolated rat adipocytes.



Joost HG, Quentin SH
J Pharmacol Exp Ther 1984; 229:839-44.