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Human Body Study

Peripheral Nervous System

Everything in the nervous system outside the brain and spinal cord — the network of nerves reaching the rest of the body. Abbreviated PNS.

The nervous system A stylised body with the CNS (brain and spinal cord) inside, the PNS branching out as nerves, and a chain of sympathetic ganglia for the ANS. A separate inset shows a neuron and glia at cell level. Each label links to the article for that part. at cell level Neurons Glia Central nervous system (CNS) Peripheral nervous system (PNS) Autonomic nervous system (ANS) The nervous system — CNS (brain + spinal cord), PNS (peripheral nerves), ANS (autonomic chain) and the cells they are built from.

Parts

Section titled “Parts”
  • Nerves — bundles of neuron fibers; 12 pairs of cranial nerves and 31 pairs of spinal nerves.
  • Ganglia — small clusters of nerve cell bodies along the way.

Functional divisions

Section titled “Functional divisions”
  • Sensory (afferent) — carries information from the body to the CNS.
  • Motor (efferent) — carries commands from the CNS out to muscles and glands. The motor side splits into the somatic (voluntary) and autonomic (involuntary) systems.

Key idea

Section titled “Key idea”

The PNS is the wiring that links the central processor to every sensor and effector in the body.