Autonomic nervous system pharmacology

The physiological effects of the catecholamines are mediated by a large number of different receptors that are of particular interest in pharmacology. Norepinephrine acts in the autonomic nervous system and certain areas of the brain. Epinephrine is also used as a transmitter by some neurons. 

The autonomic nervous systems modulates the visceral functions of the organism. A pharmacological interference with the autonomic nervous system offers the possibility to influence this modulation in case of dysfunction. The autonomic nervous system... 

In a anatomical, physiological but also pharmacological sense the autonomic nervous system can be divided in two parts the parasympathetic and the... 

For pharmacologic research, - and K2-adrenoceptor antagonist drugs have been very useful in the experimental exploration of autonomic nervous system function. In clinical therapeutics, nonselective antagonists are used in the treatment of pheochromocytoma (tumors that secrete catecholamines), and -selective antagonists are used in primary hypertension and... 

Nature is economical in her means. She uses many of the same chemicals to accomplish her nervous purposes within the brain that she has already used to the same ends throughout the body. The good news is that once you have worked out the biochemistry and pharmacology of a neuromodulator in the body, you can apply a lot of what you know to its action in the brain. The bad news is that every time you target, for example, the acetylcholine system of the brain, you also hit the body. That means that the heart, the bowel, the salivary glands, and all the rest of the organs innervated by the autonomic nervous system are influenced. What is worse, the target sites within the brain may not only be as spatially dispersed as in the periphery, but may also be as functionally differentiated ... 

CRITICAL ASSESSEMENT OF THE METHOD In general pharmacological studies during anesthesia should be assessed appropriately due to the possible interaction between the test compound and the used anesthetic as well as due to the reduced tone of the autonomic nervous system. Enteral administration of the candidate compound should be avoided, because enteral absorption of the test compound might be reduced due to the impaired intestinal motility during anesthesia. With respect to the effect of the aesthetic compound itself on intermediary metabolism the barbiturate pentobarbital sodium is the most inert anesthetic and does not cause alterations of metabolic blood and tissue parameters. In contrast, e.g. urethane as well as isoflurane (inhalation aesthetic) influences by itself substantially metabolic parameters over time (hours). 

This section provides a review of the anatomy and physiology of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) accompanied by a brief description of some of the important drugs which modify its actions. A summary of the interaction between the immune system and the ANS is also included. An extensive discussion of the anatomy and physiology of the ANS can be found in the Primer on the Autonomic Nervous System (Robertson, 2004). Detailed information on the pharmacology of the ANS can be found in Goodman Gilman s The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics (Brunton et al., 2006). 

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