The homeostatic controls exerted by the central nervous system require fast and efficient input and output routes to maintain a continuous flow of information. These are provided by the peripheral nervous system (PNS), composed of nerves and ganglia. If the entire PNS were suddenly disabled, the most immediate effects would be complete paralysis and loss of sensation from the outside world. But this state of affairs would not last for long, for homeostatic controls throughout the body would break down and death would soon ensue.