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Prolonged enhancement of the micturition reflex in the cat by repetitive stimulation of bladder afferents

1999; Wiley; Volume: 517; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1469-7793.1999.0599t.x

1469-7793

Chonghe Jiang, Sivert Lindström,

Circadian rhythm and melatonin

1 Prolonged modulation of the parasympathetic micturition reflex was studied in cats anaesthetized by α-chloralose. Reflex discharges were recorded from a thin pelvic nerve filament to the bladder and evoked by stimulation of the remaining ipsilateral bladder pelvic nerves or urethral branches of the pudendal nerve. 2 Stimulation of bladder or urethral afferents at Aδ intensity evoked micturition reflexes with a latency of 90-120 ms. Such reflexes were much enhanced following repetitive conditioning stimulation of the same afferents at 20 Hz for 5 min. 3 The reflex enhancement lasted more than 1 h after the conditioning stimulation. The effect was not prevented by a preceding complete transection of the sympathetic supply to the bladder. A prolonged suppression of the reflex was obtained after conditioning stimulation of afferents in the dorsal clitoris nerves. 4 It is proposed that the prolonged modulations of the micturition reflex represent physiological adaptive processes, which preserve a flawless function of the bladder during life. The observations provide a theoretical explanation for the beneficial effect of electric nerve stimulation in patients with voiding disorders.