ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the autonomic innervation of the urinogenital system including the kidney, the urinary bladder, the gonads and associated ducts, in non-mammalian vertebrates. The embryonic origin and the structure of the bladder and the gonads varies between the vertebrate groups. In teleosts, amphibians and reptiles, both bladder and gonads are innervated by cholinergic and adrenergic nerves, which run from the lower sympathetic chains via the vesicular or pelvic nerves. In some animals a nonadrenergic, non-cholinergic innervation is demonstrated. The adrenergic fibres running to the kidney innervate the renal arteries, the glomerular arterioles and some associated tubules in teleosts, amphibians and birds. In cyclostomes and elasmobranchs, urine production appears to be controlled by blood pressure and tubular permeability, respectively. The reproductive organs of birds receive two different sympathetic innervations, which arise from the lumbosacral and the sacral levels of the chain.
