ABSTRACT
Hormones and the autonomic nervous system (ANS) play, through complex interaction, a crucial role in the control of exocrine pancreatic secretion (EPS) via “pancreon” units and of the endocrine pancreas by the Langerhans islets (1,2). The higher brain centers regulate both somatic and visceral functions. Interposed in the efferent peripheral pathway between the central system (CNS) and the visceral structures is an aggregation of nerve cells known as the autonomic ganglia. The latter may be classified as paravertebral, prevertebral, and terminal.
