Autonomic nervous system innervation, showing the sympathetic and parasympathetic (craniosacral) systems, in red and blue, respectively
|- style="text-align: center;" class="hiddenStructure"
| colspan="2" |
|- style="text-align: center; line-height: 1;" class="hiddenStructure"
| colspan="2" |Diagram of the course and branches of a typical intercostal nerve. (Sympathetic ganglion visible at center top.)
|- class="hiddenStructure"
|Latin
|colspan="2"|g. sympathicum
|- class="hiddenStructure"
|
|colspan="2"|[subject # ]
|- class="hiddenStructure"
|System
|colspan="2"|
|- class="hiddenStructure"
|Precursor
|colspan="2"|
|- class="hiddenStructure"
|MeSH
|colspan="2"|[]
|- class="hiddenStructure"
|Dorlands/Elsevier
|colspan="2"|[g_02/12385047]
|}
Sympathetic ganglia are the ganglia of the sympathetic nervous system. They deliver information to the body about stress and impending danger, and are responsible for the familiar fight-or-flight response. They contain approximately 20000–30000 nerve cell bodies and are located close to and either side of the spinal cord in long chains.
The bilaterally symmetric sympathetic chain ganglia are located just anterior and lateral to the spinal cord. The chain extends from the upper neck down to the coccyx, forming the unpaired coccygeal ganglion. Preganglionic nerves from the central nervous systemsynapse at one of the chain ganglia and the postganglionic fiber extends to an effector, typically a visceral organ in the thoracic cavity.
