What is the interplay between the central nervous system and the enteric nervous system?

Lin Chang MD  

The enteric nervous system and the CNS do have interplay. The autonomic nervous system is made up of three components: the sympathetic nervous system, the parasympathetic nervous system and the enteric nervous system. The enteric nervous system is made up of neurons and neural fibers within the bowel wall, while the extrinsic nervous system, which is made up of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, have neurons in the brain stem and in the thoracal lumbar spinal cord as well as the sacral spinal cord for the parasympathetic fibers.

The sacral parasympathetic, the vagal and the sympathetic fibers all innervate the bowel wall and they do interact with the enteric neurons that are within the bowel wall. The enteric nervous system has certain functions like peristalsis, secretor motor function, intestinal reflexes. But the CNS, or the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, can modulate the function of the enteric nervous system.