Sympathoadrenal system

The sympathoadrenal system is a physiological connection between the sympathetic nervous system and the adrenal medulla and is crucial in an organism's physiological response to outside stimuli. When the body receives sensory information, the sympathetic nervous system sends a signal to preganglionic nerve fibers, which activate the adrenal medulla through acetylcholine. Once activated, norepinephrine and epinephrine are released directly into the blood by postganglionic nerve fibers where they act as the bodily mechanism for "fight-or-flight" responses. Because of this, the sympathoadrenal system plays a large role in maintaining glucose levels, sodium levels, blood pressure, and various other metabolic pathways that couple with bodily responses to the environment. During numerous diseased states, such as hypoglycemia or even stress, the body's metabolic processes are skewed. The sympathoadrenal system works to return the body to homeostasis through the activation or inactivation of the adrenal gland. However, more severe disorders of the sympathoadrenal system such as Pheochromocytoma (a tumor on the adrenal medulla) can affect the body's ability to maintain a homeostatic state. In these cases, curative agents such as adrenergic agonists and antagonists are used to modify epinephrine and norepinephrine levels released by the adrenal medulla. The normal function of the sympathoadrenal system is to help the body regulate responses to environmental stimuli. These stimuli travel through the sympathetic nervous system by means of preganglionic nerve fibers that emerge from the thoracic spinal cord. Electrical impulses carried by the sympathetic nervous system are converted to a chemical response in the adrenal gland. Chromaffin cells contained in the adrenal medulla act as postganglionic nerve fibers that release this chemical response into the blood as a circulating messenger. The sympathoadrenal system can activate and discharge chemical messengers as a single unit to activate an organism's “fight or flight” response.