Central Regulation of Autonomic Function

Central autonomic circuits in the brain and spinal cord are essential to vertebrate life: they control all basic bodily functions, including blood pressure, body temperature regulation, digestion, and reproduction.

Edited by two experts in the field, Ida Llewellyn-Smith and Anthony Verberne, and extensively illustrated, the second edition of Central Regulation of Autonomic Functions presents the extraordinary advances that have been made over the last 20 years in the understanding of how the central nervous system controls autonomic functions.

Written in a clear and readable manner by an international collection of neuroscientists and physiologists, and nine chapters describe central autonomic circuits from the cerebral cortex to the periphery. Eight more chapters address specific bodily functions and their control by central autonomic circuits. Two additional chapters discuss cardio-respiratory integration and regulation of autonomic function by visceral and somatic afferents. All of the chapters are up-to-date and cover topics such as the central autonomic regulation of airways, gastrointestinal function, energy homeostasis, body temperature, and sexual function, reflecting the latest research.

One of the only texts to provide the whole story of how the brain controls basic bodily functions that are critical for life, Central Regulation of Autonomic Functions will be essential reading for graduate students and researchers in neuroscience, anatomy, pharmacology and physiology as well as a valuable reference work for established workers in the field.

Ida J. Llewellyn-Smith, PhD, is Associate Professor in Medicine at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. She received her BA at Bryn Mawr College, and her PhD at the University of Sydney. She is best known for analyzing central nerve pathways that regulate the cardiovascular system using sophisticated light and electron microscopic techniques, many of which she developed herself. She is also Councilor of the American Physiology Society.

Anthony J. M. Verberne, PhD, is a Associate Professor in the University of Melbourne's Department of Medicine at Austin Health, Melbourne, Australia. He received his PhD from the University of Melbourne and in 2005 was awarded a Doctor of Science. He has served on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Physiology, the British Journal of Pharmacology and Brain Research Bulletin. His research has examined supramedullary circulatory control mechanisms, central cardiovascular reflex pathways as well as central control of pancreatic secretion and glucose homeostasis.