ABBR: ENS

A division of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) arising from its own line of neural crest cells and composed of the tens of millions of neurons and their supporting cells inside the walls of the gastrointestinal tract, pancreas, and gallbladder. The enteric nervous system is innervated by sympathetic and parasympathetic axons from the other divisions of the ANS, but it also acts independently. Reflex activities (such as maintaining gut wall tension and producing peristalsis) are initiated and coordinated via networks entirely inside the gut walls and organized via complex intrinsic ganglionated neural networks of two kinds: Auerbach plexus and the submucous (Meissner and Henle) plexus lying between the circular and muscularis mucosae muscle layers.