We have found that neurites from embryonic chick retinal and sympathetic explants do not mix in culture, while retinal neurites mix with retinal neurites, and sympathetic neurites mix with sympathetic neurites. These results confirm those obtained with embryonic rat tissues by Bray et al. (1980). We have also used video time-lapse techniques to examine the behavior of individual retinal and sym...

Primary afferent neurons rarely, if ever, synapse on the sympathetic preganglionic neurons that regulate the cardiovascular system, nor do sympathetic preganglionic neurons normally exhibit spontaneous activity in the absence of excitatory inputs. Therefore, after serious spinal cord injury "spinal sympathetic interneurons" provide the sole excitatory and inhibitory inputs to sympathetic pregan...

The sympathetic nervous system has served as an amenable model system to investigate molecular mechanisms underlying developmental processes in the nervous system. While much attention has been focused on neurotrophic factors controlling survival and connectivity of postmitotic sympathetic neurons, relatively little is known about signaling mechanisms regulating development of sympathetic neuro...