Reflex Viscerosensory

Viscerosensory reflex
The reflex is a viscerosensory reflex, a reflex arc in which the peripheral element is the visceroreceptor and the central element is the spinothalamic neuron.

Visceroceptors are specialized sensitive nerve endings located on internal organs (heart, lungs, stomach, etc.) or in the walls of blood vessels. They perceive information about the state of internal organs and transmit it to the central nervous system via afferent fibers. Afferent fibers are nerve fibers that run from the internal organs to the spinal cord and brain.

Thus, the reflex arc of the viscerosensory reflex consists of:

peripheral link - visceroreceptor;
central link - a sensitive neuron located in the spinal or cranial ganglia;
efferent link - motor neuron;
the final one is the working body.

When visceral receptors are stimulated, impulses are transmitted along afferent nerve fibers to centripetal neurons, which are located in the corresponding segment of the spinal cord. These neurons are sensitive. Centripetal neurons excite interneurons that are found in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, the lateral horn, or the lateral horn. Interneurons transmit excitation to the corresponding segmental motor neurons.

Motor neurons are located in the anterior horns of the spinal cord or medulla oblongata. Their axons pass through the anterior roots and exit the brain through the lateral horns. When these neurons are stimulated, the corresponding muscles contract.