Reconstruction of Severed Dorsal Roots Innervating the Urinary Bladder An Experimental Study in Cats I. Studies on the normal afferent pathways in the pelvic and pudendal nerves

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Abstract
When using an electrophysiological technique in 5 adult female cats the afferent input of the pelvic and pudendal nerves was found to be represented in one or more of the three dorsal sacral roots, but nut in the lowest lumbar or first coccygeal roots. In another series of 9 cats it was demonstrated that afferent stimulation of the transected pelvic or pudendal nerves resulted in a bladder response similar to that following efferent stimulation of the hypogastric nerves. This bladder reaction was a composite reflex response, the dominating feature of which was a bladder relaxation. The reflexes elicited by afferent stimulation of the pelvic or pudendal nerves were both found to be spinal reflexes with their afferent limbs passing the dorsal sacral roots and their efferent limbs in the hypogastric nerves. The reflex elicited by afferent pelvic nerve stimulation corresponds to Edvardsen's storage reflex. Reflex relaxation of the urinary bladder following afferent electrical stimulation of the pudendal nerve has not previously been described. The results obtained constitute a basis for the performance and evaluation of the regeneration study (Part II of the present work) (Sundin & Carlsson,1972).