A sympathetic projection from sacral paravertebral ganglia to the pelvic nerve and to postganglionic nerves on the surface of the urinary bladder and large intestine of the cat (original) (raw)
Related papers
International Journal of Impotence Research, 1997
Several arguments exist in various animal species and man for the presence of a sympathetic component in the pelvic nerve, classically regarded as parasympathetic. We tested this hypothesis in the male rat. Nerve bundles issued from the sacral region of the paravertebral sympathetic chain and reaching the S1 spinal nerve were identi®ed. Neurons in the sacral parasympathetic nucleus of the L6-S1 spinal cord and in the L2-S1 paravertebral sympathetic chain were retrogradely labeled from the pelvic nerve. Radioautography evidenced labeling of unmyelinated ®bers in the pelvic nerve following in vitro incubation with 3 H-noradrenaline. A population of sympathetic ®bers issued from the lumbosacral sympathetic chain exists in the pelvic nerve of the male rat. This qualitative study provides a morphological basis to uncover the role of the sympathetic out¯ow present in the pelvic nerve.
Journal of Urology, 1993
Afferent sensory inputs from the penis are carried by the dorsal nerve of the penis (DNP) to the spinal cord. Sympathetic outflow involved in the control of the urogenital tract is partly conveyed by the lumbosacral sympathetic chain. Our aim was to search for a sympathetic component in the DNP and relations between DNP afferents and sympathetic fibers conveyed by the distal sympathetic chain in anesthetized adult male rats. Stimulation of the lumbar sympathetic chain at the L4-L5 level (LSC4_5) elicited an evoked discharge on the DNP. This discharge was abolished by cutting the sympathetic chain distal to the stimulation site. Ganglionic blockade with hexamethonium and various neural sections revealed the presence of sympathetic postganglionic fibers in the DNP, originating in the sympathetic chain. Stimulation of the DNP evoked a reflex discharge in the LSC. This reflex was spinally mediated since it was abolished by acute spinal cord transection at the L5 level. Acute spinalization at the T8 level significantly reduced the latency of the evoked response. We hypothesize that both spinal and supraspinal control exist over relations of the DNP afferents with sympathetic outflow to the pelvis. Increase in sympathetic tone elicited by activation of penile sensory fibers could play a role in regulation of sexual function.
Primary afferent fibers of the pelvic nerve terminate in the gracile nucleus of the rat
Neuroscience Letters, 1999
After injection of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) into the pelvic nerve of the rat, a small number of HRP-labeled axon terminals were found in the gracile nucleus. Double labeling experiments were also performed: Fluoro-Gold (FG) was injected into the pelvic nerve, while cholera toxin B subunit (CTb) was injected into the gracile nucleus or dorsal faciculus at the ®fth and sixth cervical cord segments ipsilateral to the FG injection. About 5% of FG-labeled neurons were labeled with CTb in the L6-, S1-and S2-dorsal root ganglia ipsilateral to the tracer injection. The results suggest that some primary afferent information from pelvic visceral organs may be directly conveyed to gracile nucleus by the primary afferent neurons. q Neuroscience Letters 272 (1999) 211±214 0304-3940/99/$ -see front matter q
Anat Cell Biol, 2014
Although the pelvic autonomic plexus may be considered a mixture of sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves, little information on its composite fibers is available. Using 10 donated elderly cadavers, we investigated in detail the topohistology of nerve fibers in the posterior part of the periprostatic region in males and the infero-anterior part of the paracolpium in females. Neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) were used as parasympathetic nerve markers, and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) was used as a marker of sympathetic nerves. In the region examined, nNOS-positive nerves (containing nNOS-positive fibers) were consistently predominant numerically. All fibers positive for these markers appeared to be thin, unmyelinated fibers. Accordingly, the pelvic plexus branches were classified into 5 types: triple-positive mixed nerves (nNOS+, VIP+, TH+, thick myelinated fibers + or -); double-positive mixed nerves (nNOS+, VIP-, TH+, thick myelinated fibers + or -); nerves in arterial walls (nNOS-, VIP+, TH+, thick myelinated fibers-); non-parasympathetic nerves (nNOS-, VIP-, TH+, thick myelinated fibers + or -); (although rare) pure sensory nerve candidates (nNOS-, VIP-, TH-, thick myelinated fibers+). Triple-positive nerves were 5-6 times more numerous in the paracolpium than in the periprostatic region. Usually, the parasympathetic nerve fibers did not occupy a specific site in a nerve, and were intermingled with sympathetic fibers. This morphology might be the result of an "incidentally" adopted nerve fiber route, rather than a targetspecific pathway.
The Anatomical Record, 1989
An understanding of the composition of the various nerves of the pelvic plexus is essential in the design of studies to explore the autonomic control of pelvic visceral tissues. As a correlate of this interest, the present study was designed to determine the composition of the main penile nerve in the pelvic plexus of the laboratory rat, an animal commonly used for studies of reproductive physiology. Retrograde tracing studies indicate that the main penile nerve contains neurons which project to the penile crura, the corpus spongiosum, and the bulbourethral glands. The main penile nerve is the major source of neurons which innervate the corpus spongiosum and bulbourethral gland and contains about one-third of all parasympathetic neurons which project to the penile crura. Dye placed on the proximal cut end of the main penile nerve indicates that neurons in the parasympathetic region of the spinal cord (L6-S1) and to a lesser extent a sympathetic region of the cord, L1-L2, provide preganglionic innervation to ganglion cells in the main pelvic nerve. Processes of neurons in dorsal root ganglia L6-S1 and of neurons in the abdominopelvic sympathetic chain course in the main penile nerve to unknown destinations. In many respects this presumed postganglionic fiber tract is essentially a region of the pelvic plexus which subserves extrapelvic visceral tissues.
Anatomia, Histologia, Embryologia, 2012
The neurons associated with the left first sacral sympathetic trunk ganglion (STG S1), an autonomic ganglion particularly concerned in the innervation of the smooth and striated musculature associated with pelvic organs, were identified in the pig, using the non-trans-synaptic fluorescent retrograde neuronal tracer Fast Blue. The labelled neurons were located mostly ipsilaterally, in the intermediolateral nucleus of the spinal cord segments T10-L5, in the sympathetic trunk ganglia L3-Co1, in the caudal mesenteric ganglia, in the pelvic ganglia, and in the spinal ganglia T13-S4. Our results could indicate the existence of visceral neuronal circuits concerning the ganglia of the sympathetic trunk and the caudal mesenteric, pelvic and spinal ganglia with or without the intervention of the central nervous system, whose identification and preservation during surgical treatments could be helpful in reducing the risk of subsequent urinary and sexual disfunctions.
Two main functions of lower urinary tract, storage and periodic elimination of urine, are regulated by a complex neural control system located in the brain and spinal cord which coordinates the activity of the reservoir (urinary bladder) and the outlet (bladder neck, urethra and urethral sphincter). These organs are regulated by three sets of peripheral nerves: sacral parasympathetic (pelvic nerves), thoracolumber sympathetic nerves (hypogastric nerves) which innervate the bladder trigone and prostate, and sacral somatic nerves (pudendal nerves) which innervate external urethral sphincter (EUS). The relationship between the bladder and EUS is controlled by reflex pathways in the lumbosacral spinal cord that are activated by primary afferent input from the bladder or the urethra. This study was conducted to examine the reflexes that mediate bladder and sphincter coordination. We compared the properties of the pelvic nerve afferent to pudendal nerve reflex (pelvic-to-pudendal nerve re...
Afferent fibers of the pudendal nerve modulate sympathetic neurons controlling the bladder neck
Neurourology and Urodynamics, 2003
Aims: Pudendal nerve stimulation is known to have a potential modulative e¡ect on bladder function. However, even if its e⁄ciency has been established for various neurogenic and non-neurogenic bladder dysfunctions, the underlying neuronal mechanism, and the involved pathways in humans remain unknown. In this prospective study we focused on the e¡ects of pudendal nerve stimulation in complete spinal cord injured patients to identify neuromodulative processes that occur on spinal level. Methods: Twenty complete spinal male presenting with upper motor neuron lesion and neurogenic incontinence underwent pudendal nerve stimulation. Bladder, bladder neck (BN), and external urethral sphincter (EUS) pressures were continuously recorded with a three channel microtip pressure transducer catheter. Fifty six pudendal stimulations using biphasic rectangular impulses (0.2 ms, 10 Hz) with intensities up to 100 mA were applied to the dorsal penile nerve. In six patients, 18 stimulations were repeated after intravenous (i.v.) administration of 7 mg phentolamine. Results: Mean BN and EUS pressure increased during stimulation signi¢cantly (P < 0.001). The latencies to the EUS responses range between 27 and 41 ms and those to the BN responses between 188 and 412 ms. Phentolamine decreased initial BN pressure and reduced the pressure rise during stimulation signi¢cantly (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Pudendal nerve stimulation evoked somatic responses in the EUS and autonomic responses in the smooth muscle sphincter controlling the BN. Longer latencies of the BN responses and the sensitivity to the a-blocking agent phentolamine suggest that sympathetic a-adrenergic ¢bers are involved. Somatic a¡erent ¢bers of the pudendal nerve are supposed to project on sympathetic thoracolumbar neurons to the BN and modulate their function. This neuromodulative e¡ect works exclusively at the spinal level and appears to be at least partly responsible for BN competence and at least continence.
The Journal of Comparative Neurology, 1985
The cell bodies of the lumbar sensory and sympathetic pre-and postganglionic neurons that project to the colon along the inferior mesenteric artery of the cat have been labeled retrogradely with horseradish peroxidase applied to the central end of their cut axons. The numbers, segmental distribution, location, and size of these labeled somata have been determined quantitatively. Afferent cell bodies were symmetrically distributed bilaterally in dorsal root ganglia T13-L5, with the maximum number (about 80%) in L3 and L4 and most of the rest in L2. Labeled afferent somata were small relative to the entire population of DRG cells. Occasionally a few preganglionic somata were labeled in the intermediate zone of L3 and L4 spinal cord segments. Postganglionic cell bodies were labeled bilaterally in the proximal lobes of the inferior mesenteric ganglion (70-95%), in accessory ganglia of the intermesenteric nerve and of the lumbar splanchnic nerves, and in lumbar paravertebral ganglia. The segmental distribution in the lumbar sympathetic trunk was symmetrical on both sides and was the same as that of the afferent cells. Labeled postganglionic cell bodies in both the IMG and the accessory ganglia were larger than labeled and unlabeled ganglion cells in the paravertebral ganglia. From these data, it is estimated that about 2,100 afferent neurons and about 29,000 postganglionic neurons project in the lumbar colonic nerves. In conjunction with equivalent data for the hypogastric and lumbar splanchnic nerves, the results provide a quantitative and spatial description of the afferent and efferent components of the lumbar innervation of the colon and pelvic viscera.