Significant physiological roles of ancillary penile nerves on increase in intracavernous pressure in rats: experiments using electrical stimulation of the medial preoptic area

Abstract

The objectives of this work were to evaluate the contributions of the ancillary penile nerves to penile erection in male rats in vivo. We investigated the effects of unilateral and bilateral transection of the cavernous nerve (main penile nerve) on the increase in intracavernous pressure (ICP) following electrical stimulation of the medial preoptic area (MPOA) in male rats in vivo. After unilateral or bilateral transection of the cavernous nerve (main penile nerve), the ICP responses showed decreases of 28% and 55%, respectively compared to those ICP responses before transection. In other words, even after bilateral transection of the cavernous nerve, significant increases in the ICP response following central stimulation were observed. In contrast to these findings, the ICP response was completely eliminated following bilateral pelvic nerve transection. These data suggested that the ancillary penile nerves, which originate from the major pelvic ganglia, have a complementary role to the cavernous nerves in the autonomic motor innervation of the penis.