In this video, we're going to be talking about visceral reflex arcs. Now, these are going to be very similar to somatic reflex arcs, which we covered in our chapter on the peripheral nervous system, but there are 3 main differences. So, first, these visceral reflex arcs are going to have 2 consecutive neurons in their motor component. We've talked about this a whole bunch already, so we're going to have our preganglionic fiber and our postganglionic fiber. Next, the afferent fibers are going to be visceral sensory neurons rather than somatic sensory neurons. And finally, the effectors here are going to be smooth muscle, cardiac muscle, and glands rather than primarily skeletal muscle like we saw in those somatic reflex arcs.
Now, these visceral reflex arcs have 5 steps, and the 5 steps exactly mirror what we already saw in those somatic reflex arcs. So, first, we're going to have a receptor, so we're going to have a sensory receptor located somewhere in our viscera, and then we'll have our visceral sensory neuron. You can see that here in blue, and that will transmit an impulse from the receptor to our central nervous system. And then we will enter our integration center, and this will consist of either an interneuron or a single synapse between our sensory and our motor neuron. And for these visceral reflex arcs, that integration center can either be in the spinal cord, the brain, or in the gastrointestinal tract. And then, we will have our motor neuron, and like I said here, we're going to have now a 2 neuron chain. So, we're going to have our preganglionic neuron and then our postganglionic fiber. And then, finally, that message will get sent out to our visceral effector, which is going to be either, like I said, smooth muscle, cardiac muscle, or a gland that will respond to that stimulus.
So, all in all, very similar, like I said, to those somatic reflex arcs, but just a couple of key differences there. Alright, and I will see you guys in our next one. Bye bye.
