Topic summary
Parasympathetic
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Parasympathetic nervous system.
Homeostatic and anti-inflammatory functions
Parasympathetic outflow, particularly via the vagus nerve, participates in several reflex circuits that stabilize internal milieu beyond classical cardiovascular and gastrointestinal control. The "cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway" describes an efferent arm of the inflammatory reflex in which action potentials in vagal fibers ultimately signal to immune cells—predominantly via α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors—to suppress the production of tumor necrosis factor and other pro-inflammatory cytokines during systemic inflammatory responses.