sympathetic (redirected from Sympathetic chain)

sympathetic /sym·pa·thet·ic/ (sim?pah-thet´ik)

1. pertaining to, exhibiting, or caused by sympathy.

2. pertaining to the sympathetic nervous system or one of its nerves.

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sym·pa·thet·ic (smp-thtk)

adj.

Of, relating to, or acting on the sympathetic nervous system.

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sympathetic (sim´pthet´ik),

adj pertaining to the sympathetic nervous system.

sympathetic nervous system,

n See autonomic nervous system.

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sympathetic

pertaining to the sympathetic nervous system.

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acute sympathetic blockade

trauma to the cervical spinal cord may be associated with bradycardia and hypotension.

sympathetic chain

the sympathetic trunk whose ganglia suggest a chain of beads.

sympathetic cholinergic vasodilator fibers

a system of efferent dilator nerves distributed only to skeletal muscles; the existence of the system has been verified only in cats and dogs; in other species where it is not present vasodilation is achieved only by relaxation of vasoconstrictor tone.

sympathetic nerves

1. see sympathetic trunk (below).

2. any nerve of the sympathetic nervous system.

sympathetic nervous system

the part of the autonomic nervous system whose preganglionic fibers arise from cell bodies in the thoracic and lumbar segments of the spinal cord; postganglionic fibers are distributed to the heart, smooth muscle, and glands of the entire body.

sympathetic outflow

the preganglionic fibers from the nerve cells in the thoracolumbar cord.

sympathetic regurgitation

see neurotic regurgitation.

sympathetic trunk

two long ganglionated nerve strands, one on each side of the vertebral column, extending from the base of the skull to the coccyx.

sympathetic trunk ganglia

ganglia situated segmentally along the paired sympathetic trunks beside the vertebral bodies.