title: Evidence of vagus nerve sprouting to innervate the urinary bladder and clitoris in a canine model of lower motoneuron lesioned bladder.
abstract: Complete spinal cord injury does not block perceptual responses or inferior solitary nucleus activation after genital self-stimulation, even though the vagus is not thought to innervate pelvic structures. We tested if vagus nerve endings sprout after bladder decentralization to innervate genitourinary structures in canines with decentralized bladders.
  
  
  
  Four reinnervation surgeries were performed in female hounds: bilateral genitofemoral nerve transfer to pelvic nerve with vesicostomy (GNF-V) or without (GFN-NV); and left femoral nerve transfer (FNT-V and FNT-NV). After 8 months, retrograde dyes were injected into genitourinary structures. Three weeks later, at euthanasia, reinnervation was evaluated as increased detrusor pressure induced by functional electrical stimulation (FES). Controls included un-operated, sham-operated, and decentralized animals.
  
  
  
  Increased detrusor pressure was seen in 8/12 GFNT-V, 4/5 GFNT-NV, 5/5 FNT-V, and 4/5 FNT-NV animals after FES, but not decentralized controls. Lumbar cord segments contained cells labeled from the bladder in all nerve transfer animals with FES-induced increased detrusor pressure. Nodose ganglia cells labeled from the bladder were observed in 5/7 nerve transfer animals (1/2 GNT-NV; 4/5 FNT-V), and from the clitoris were in 6/7 nerve transfer animals (2/2 GFNT-NV; 4/5 FNT-V). Dorsal motor nucleus vagus cells labeled from the bladder were observed in 3/5 nerve transfer animals (1/2 GFNT-NV; 2/3 FNT-V), and from the clitoris in 4/5 nerve transfer animals (1/2 GFNT-NV; 3/3 FNT-V). Controls lacked this labeling.
  
  
  
  Evidence of vagal nerve sprouting to the bladder and clitoris was observed in canines with lower motoneuron lesioned bladders. Neurourol. Urodynam. 36:91-97, 2017. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Mary F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Barbe
authors.affiliation: CAIF A1224, University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gomez-Amaya
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Alan S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Braverman
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurosurgery, UCSD Medical Center, San Diego, California.
authors.forename: Justin M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: CAIF A1224, University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Neil S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Lamarre
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Vicky S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Massicotte
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Jennifer K S
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Stephen R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Dachert
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.|Shriners Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Michael R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Ruggieri
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002987:Clitoris / Q000254:growth & development / Q000294:innervation*; D004285:Dogs; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005260:Female; D005267:Femoral Nerve / Q000601:surgery; D009046:Motor Neurons; D009416:Nerve Regeneration; D016067:Nerve Transfer / Q000379:methods*; D009620:Nodose Ganglion / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development; D011312:Pressure; D020127:Recovery of Function; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D001743:Urinary Bladder / Q000254:growth & development / Q000294:innervation* / Q000503:physiopathology; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000254:growth & development*
keywords: genitourinary structures; nodose ganglion; reinnervation; retrograde dyes; vagus nerve