Main description:

Central autonomic circuits in the brain and spinal cord are essential to vertebrate life: they control all basic bodily functions, including blood pressure, body temperature regulation, digestion, and reproduction.

Edited by two experts in the field, Ida Llewellyn-Smith and Anthony Verberne, and extensively illustrated, the second edition of Central Regulation of Autonomic Functions presents the extraordinary advances that have been made over the last 20 years in the understanding of how the central nervous system controls autonomic functions.

Written in a clear and readable manner by an international collection of neuroscientists and physiologists, and nine chapters describe central autonomic circuits from the cerebral cortex to the periphery. Eight more chapters address specific bodily functions and their control by central autonomic circuits. Two additional chapters discuss cardio-respiratory integration and regulation of autonomic function by visceral and somatic afferents. All of the chapters are up-to-date and cover topics such
as the central autonomic regulation of airways, gastrointestinal function, energy homeostasis, body temperature, and sexual function, reflecting the latest research.

One of the only texts to provide the whole story of how the brain controls basic bodily functions that are critical for life, Central Regulation of Autonomic Functions will be essential reading for graduate students and researchers in neuroscience, anatomy, pharmacology and physiology as well as a valuable reference work for established workers in the field.

Contents:

Preface
Ida J. Llewellyn-Smith & Anthony J.M. Verberne

Chapter 1.
Central Autonomic Pathways
J. Patrick Card & Alan F. Sved

Chapter 2.
The Nucleus of the Solitary Tract: Processing Information from Viscerosensory Afferents
Michael C. Andresen & Julian F. R. Paton

Chapter 3
The Hypothalamus and Autonomic Regulation: An Overview
Roger A. L. Dampney

Chapter 4
Autonomic and Neuroendocrine Roles of the Paraventricular Nucleus
Javier E. Stern

Chapter 5
The Ventrolateral Medulla and Sympathetic Regulation of Arterial Pressure
Ann M. Schreihofer & Alan F. Sved.

Chapter 6
Sympathetic Preganglionic Neurons
Ida J. Llewellyn-Smith

Chapter 7
Parasympathetic Preganglionic Neurons
David Jordan

Chapter 8
Spinal Interneurons in the Control of Autonomic Function
Susan A. Deuchars

Chapter 9
Regulation of Autonomic Function by Visceral and Somatic Afferents
John C. Longhurst

Chapter 10
Cardiorespiratory Integration
Patrice G. Guyenet

Chapter 11
Modulation of Autonomic Function by the Cerebral Cortex
Anthony J. M. Verberne

Chapter 12
Central Circulatory Control: Psychological Stress and the Defense Reaction
Pascal L. Carrive

Chapter 13
Central Autonomic Regulation of the Airways
Brendan J. Canning

Chapter 14
Central Control of Gastrointestinal Function
Pamela J. Hornby & Paul R. Wade

Chapter 15
Central Autonomic Control of the Pancreas
R. Alberto Travagli & Kirsteen N. Browning

Chapter 16
Circumventricular Organs: Critical Autonomic Control Centers at the Blood Brain Interface
Alistair V. Ferguson

Chapter 17
Central Autonomic Control of Energy Homeostasis
Barry E. Levin & Alison M. Strack

Chapter 18
Central Nervous System Regulation of Body Temperature
Shaun F. Morrison & William W. Blessing

Chapter 19
Autonomic Regulation of the Urinary Bladder and Urethra
William C. de Groat

Chapter 20
Autonomic Regulation of Sexual Function
Lesley Marson