The hypothalamus, intrinsic connections and outflow pathways to the pancreas.

In this thesis both autonomic nervous and neuroendocrine pathways are described which are involved in the transfer of information from the hypothalamus to the pancreas and adrenal glands. These pathways are believed to participate in the control by the hypothalamus of food-intake and metabolism. The investigations were started with a localization of the preganglionic parasympathetic and sympathetic neurons which supply the efferentE to the pancreas, and to the islet of Langerhans in particular, using the retrograde transport of horseradish peroxidase. The preganglionic parasympathetic cells are located in the dorsal motor vagus (DMnX) and ambiguus nuclei, whereas the preganglionic sympathetic cells are situated in the intermediolateral (IML) and intermediomedial (IMM) zone of the thoracic spinal cord, in segments Th3 to L2. Retrogradely labeled somata also occurred in the ventral horn of the third and fourth segments of the cervical spinal cord. The autonomic nature of these cervical cells was not established yet but it was found that the C3 - C4 neurons project to the pancreas via ramifications of the phrenic nerve. ... Zie: Summary