Physiology
Nerves arising from the lateral horn of the spinal cord are those of the autonomic nervous system. They exit through the ventral root of the spinal cord, and continue through the ventral rami. At that point, they sharply branch to go through the white ramus communicans of the paravertebral body. Unlike the thoracic and cutaneous nerves, the ANS nerves destined for the pelvic viscera continue through the paravertebral ganglia without synapsing. Instead of synapsing, they continue through splanchnic nerves until they reach a prevertebral ganglia (located proximally to their target organ). Once inside the prevertebral ganglia, the individual neurons comprising the nerve synapse with their postganglionic neuron. The postganglionic nerve then proceed to innervate their targets (pelvic visceral organs).
Read more about this topic: Prevertebral Ganglia
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