Abstract
THE analysis of phenomena such as the ‘pseudomotor reactions’ or the ‘paradoxical pupillary dilation’ has revealed that structures deprived of their normal nerve supply show a supersensitivity to chemical stimuli. In 1939 Cannon formulated the law of denervation: “When in a series of efferent neurones a unit is destroyed, an increased irritability to chemical agents develops in the isolated structure or structures, the effect being maximal in the part directly denervated”. In their recent monograph on “The Supersensitivity of Denervated Structures”1, Cannon and Rosenblueth have discussed various factors which might be responsible for the sensitization of cells after degenerative section of their efferent nerve supply, such as inactivity, suppression of the release of chemical mediators, or removal of some kind of ‘trophic’ influence of nerves on the cells.
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References
Cannon, W. B., and Rosenblueth, A., “The Supersensitivity of Denervated Structures” (New York and London: Macmillan, 1949).
Fleming, A. J., and MacIntosh, F. C., Quart. J. Exp. Physiol., 25, 207 (1935).
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EMMELIN, N., MUREN, A. Supersensitivity of Denervated Organs to Chemical Stimuli. Nature 166, 610 (1950). https://doi.org/10.1038/166610a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/166610a0
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