Cell body reorganization in the spinal cord after surgery to treat sweaty palms and blushing

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.
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

Spinal cord infarction occurring during thoraco-lumbar sympathectomy
J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1963;26:418-421 doi:10.1136/jnnp.26.5.418

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

There are similarities between the delayed onset of the human pain state and the delayed rise in sensory peptides after sympathectomy

The effect of sympathectomy on the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) level in the rat primary trigeminal sensory neurone was investigated. Six weeks after bilateral removal of the superior cervical ganglion there was a 70% rise in the CGRP content of the iris and the pial arteries, a 34% rise in the concentration in the trigeminal ganglion but no change in the brainstem. The CGRP rise in both end organs suggests that this phenomenon may be common to all peripheral organs receiving combined sensory and sympathetic innervations. The lack of any rise in the brainstem CGRP content raises the possibility that this process spares central terminations. In contrast, the level of neuropeptide Y, a peptide mainly contained in sympathetic terminals, fell to 35% of control values in the iris and pial arteries whilst the trigeminal ganglion and brainstem concentrations remained unchanged. The possible relevance of these observations to the clinical syndrome of postsympathectomy pain (sympathalgia) is discussed. There are similarities between the delayed onset of the human pain state and the delayed rise in sensory peptides after sympathectomy.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3877546