Title: peripheral nervous system
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - peripheral nervous system
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.12003
Status: current

Definition
One of the two major divisions of the nervous system, made up of the nerves and ganglia lying outside the brain and spinal cord that transmit sensory and motor signals to and from the central nervous system.

Related Terms
- brain: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/11647
- ganglia: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/11779
- nerves: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/11909
- nervous system: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/11916

Source
- PAC, 2015, 87, 841. 'IUPAC Glossary of terms used in neurotoxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2015)' on page 896 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2015-0103)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12003/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12003/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12003/xml

Citation: Citation: 'peripheral nervous system' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.12003
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Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-07-12T23:17:12+00:00