Despite the crucial role of the brain in the control of the human lower urinary tract, little is known about the supraspinal mechanisms regulating micturition. To investigate the central regulatory mechanisms activated during micturition initiation and actual micturition, we used an alternating sequence of micturition imitation/imagination, micturition initiation, and actual micturition in 22 h...

Urine release (micturition) serves an essential physiological function as well as a critical role in social communication in many animals. Here, we show a combined effect of olfaction and social hierarchy on micturition patterns in adult male mice, confirming the existence of a micturition control center that integrates pro- and anti-micturition cues. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a cluster ...

We studied how the nervous system selects between noxious stimulus-evoked withdrawals and micturition, movements that are necessary for survival but use overlapping muscles and therefore cannot occur simultaneously. In lightly anesthetized rats, micturition was favored, because noxious stimulation never interrupted micturition, whereas withdrawals were suppressed during voiding. Neurons in the ...

Urodynamic status must interact with arousal and attentional processes so that voiding occurs under appropriate conditions. To elucidate the central encoding of this visceral demand, multisite recordings were made within a putative pontine-cortical micturition circuit from the pontine micturition center (PMC), locus coeruleus (LC) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) during cystometry in unanest...

Intracellular recordings from external urethral sphincter (EUS) and external anal sphincter (EAS) motoneurons were obtained during micturition in the decerebrate cat. The neural circuitry mediating micturition was activated by distension of the bladder or by electrical stimulation of the pontine micturition center (PMC). During micturition, the membrane potential of EUS motoneurons hyperpolariz...

OBJECTIVES To assess the clinical presentation of children with lower urinary tract dysfunction (LUTD) relating to objective examination data. MATERIALS AND METHODS Forty-four children (36 girls and 8 boys with mean age of 6.8 years) with LUTD were prospectively assessed through a specific questionnaire that analyzed clinical presentation of those patients. These data were then compared to ob...

The periaqueductal gray (PAG) of the mesencephalon has been implicated to be involved in the control of micturition. We investigated the micturition-suppressing region in the PAG of the cat. Decerebrated 27 adult cats were used. A microelectrode was inserted stereotaxically into the PAG, and a region was searched where electrical stimulation suppressed isovolumetric bladder contractions. Simult...

BACKGROUND The reaction of the corpora cavernosa (CC), the corpus spongiosum (CS), the bulbocavernosus (BCM) and ischiocavernosus (ICM) muscles to passage of urine through the urethra during micturition is not known. We investigated the hypothesis that the passage of urine through the urethra stimulates the corporal tissue and cavernosus muscles. METHODS In 30 healthy men (mean age 42.8 +/- 1...

The functions of the lower urinary tract are controlled by complex pathways in the brain that act like switching circuits to voluntarily or reflexly shift the activity of various pelvic organs (bladder, urethra, urethral sphincter, and pelvic floor muscles) from urine storage to micturition. In this study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to visualize the brain switching ci...

The midbrain periaqueductal gray (PAG) is the area promoting emotional motor responses, reproductive behaviors and analgesia. Recent studies suggest that neurons in the PAG may be crucial for regulating the micturition reflex in both experimental animals and humans. We examined single neuronal activities in the PAG and the adjacent area in response to isovolumetric spontaneous micturition refle...