The parasympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system utilizes <u>acetylcholine</u> as a postganglionic neurotransmitter.
Explanation:
The parasympathetic nervous system consists of both preganglionic (soma in the brain cell/sacral spinal cord) and postganglionic neurons (soma in the ganglion near target organ).
These neurons utilize acetylcholine as the neurotransmitter to transmit the electric nerve signals and produce parasympathetic responses like lacrimation, salivation, sexual arousal, urination and defection at the respective target organs.
Acetylcholine (Ach) can activate the receptors – muscuranic and nicotinic chloinergic receptors.
Pathway of neurotransmission: upon stimulation, ACh released by the preganglionic neuron acts on nicotinic receptors in the postganglionic neurons. Then the ACh released by the postganglionic neuron acts on the muscuranic receptors at the target organ.
