Parasympathetic Nervous System
Synonyms
Nervous System, Parasympathetic
Nervous Systems, Parasympathetic
Parasympathetic Nervous Systems
System, Parasympathetic Nervous
Systems, Parasympathetic Nervous
The craniosacral division of the autonomic nervous system. The cell bodies of the parasympathetic preganglionic fibers are in brain stem nuclei and in the sacral spinal cord. They synapse in cranial autonomic ganglia or in terminal ganglia near target organs. The parasympathetic nervous system generally acts to conserve resources and restore homeostasis, often with effects reciprocal to the sympathetic nervous system.