Sympathetic connections of the ciliary and superior cervical ganglia

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After Gray's Anatomy (1918); modernized for Neuro.Wiki

About this plate

Sympathetic connections of the ciliary and superior cervical ganglia.

The autonomic nervous system distributes visceral motor fibres through paired cranial and spinal outflows. Parasympathetic preganglionic axons travel in the oculomotor, facial, glossopharyngeal and vagus nerves, synapsing in the ciliary, sphenopalatine, submandibular and otic ganglia to reach the eye, lacrimal gland, mucous membranes of nose, palate and mouth, and the parotid, sublingual and submandibular glands; vagal fibres continue to the larynx, trachea, bronchi, oesophagus, heart and stomach. Sympathetic fibres relay through paravertebral chains, including the superior cervical ganglion, and via the greater and lesser splanchnic nerves to the coeliac plexus supplying abdominal viscera bilaterally.

Region: peripheral nerve
Structure: autonomic plexus
System: cranial nerves, peripheral nerves, autonomic, special sense
Focus: sympathetic pathway to the eye, superior cervical ganglion, carotid plexus, ciliary ganglion

Structures labelled on this plate

Short ciliary nerve to ciliary muscle
Sympathetic efferent fibers
Ciliary ganglion
Midbrain
Iii
Longus ciliary nerve to Dilator pupillæ
Short ciliary nerve to Sphincter pupillæ
Carotid plexus
Medulla
Postganglionic fibers
Superior cervical ganglion
Thoracic ganglion
Sympathetic efferent (preganglionic) fibers

Source: After Gray's Anatomy (1918). Public domain (Gray's Anatomy, 1918), modernized rendering.

Rendering © 2026 Neuro.Wiki — recolouring, relabelling and three-dimensional modelling. The underlying historical figure is public domain and remains so. Free to view and to cite with a link; not licensed for redistribution, dataset compilation, or AI model training.