Definition of "preganglionic" [preganglionic]

• Of, relating to, or being the nerve fibers that supply a ganglion, especially a ganglion of the autonomic nervous system. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The cells of this column are fusiform or star-shaped, and of a medium size: the axons of some of them pass into the anterior nerve roots, by which they are carried to the sympathetic nerves: they constitute the white rami and are sympathetic or visceral efferent fibers; they are also known as preganglionic fibers of the sympathetic system; the axons of others pass into the anterior and lateral funiculi, where they become longitudinal."
• "The efferent sympathetic fibers which leave the central nervous system in connection with certain of the cranial and spinal nerves all end in sympathetic ganglia and are known as preganglionic fibers."
• "Although proof of this has so far only been obtained directly in the case of preganglionic sympathetic endings, there is, nevertheless, much to make us think that in other places as well the nerve substances are released in the nerve endings themselves."