Electrical stimulation of the parasympathetic nerve (vidian) to the nasal mucosa induces a nasal secretion and a nasal vasodilation. We have provided additional evidence that, in the dog and cat, the secretory mechanism can be blocked with low doses of atropine sulfate (0.01 mg/kg), but the dilation mechanism is not blocked by high doses (1 mg/kg, of atropine sulfate.
By some definitions therefore, the vasodilation is not a cholinergic effect. There appears to be a basic difference in the composition of the vidian nerve in the dog and cat. In the cat, the vidian appears to have a strong sympathetic component. In the dog it does not. The human vidian nerve, according to anatomists, is more like the dog's.