Perspectives on the integrative functions of the 'sympatho-adrenomedullarysystem'

An historic survey is given of the gradual change of views and concepts con cerning how the sympatho-adrenomedullary system is organized and operates: While it for nearly a century was considered to merely exhibit more or less generalized activation-inhibition responses, experimental studies during t he last 50 years have revealed how it instead constitutes a highly sophisti cated instrument for control, engaged in a variety of differentiated respon se patterns by which the brain controls events in major organ systems, down to include their cellular-molecular levels of organisation. (C) 2000 Elsev ier Science B.V. All rights reserved.