Electrical stimulation of dog pudendal nerve regulates the excitatory pudendal-to-bladder relfex

摘要

Pudendal nerve plays an important role in urine storage and voiding. Our hypothesis is that a neuroprosthetic device placed in the puden-dal nerve trunk can modulate bladder function after suprasacral spinal cord injury. We had conifrmed the inhibitory pudendal-to-bladder relfex by stimulating either the branch or the trunk of the pudendal nerve. This study explored the excitatory pudendal-to-bladder relfex in beagle dogs, with intact or injured spinal cord, by electrical stimulation of the pudendal nerve trunk. The optimal stimulation frequency was approximately 15–25 Hz. This excitatory effect was dependent to some extent on the bladder volume. We conclude that stimulation of the pudendal nerve trunk is a promising method to modulate bladder function.