A 29-year-old carpenter sustains severe injuries of the pelvic splanchnic nerve by a deep puncture wound, which has become contaminated. The injured parasympathetic preganglionic fibers in the splanchnic nerve are most likely to synapse in which of the following ganglia?
High-Yield Explanation
The pelvic splanchnic nerves carry preganglionic parasympathetic general visceral efferent fibers that synapse in the ganglia of the inferior hypogastric plexus and in terminal ganglia in the muscular walls of the pelvic organs. The sympathetic preganglionic fibers synapse in the sympathetic chain (paraveebral) ganglia or in the collateral (preveebral) ganglia. The dorsal root ganglia contain cell bodies of general somatic afferent (GSA) and general visceral afferent (GVA) fibers and have no synapses. The two sympathetic trunks unite and terminate in the ganglion impar (coccygeal ganglion), which is the most inferior, unpaired ganglion located in front of the coccyx.