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The Journal of Neurophysiology Vol. 82 No. 3 September 1999, pp. 1381-1389
Copyright ©1999 by the American Physiological Society
Department of Physiological Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, and University of Florida Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32610-0144
Hubscher, Charles H. and
Richard D. Johnson.
Effects of Acute and Chronic Midthoracic Spinal Cord Injury on
Neural Circuits for Male Sexual Function. I. Ascending Pathways. J. Neurophysiol. 82: 1381-1389, 1999. Normal male reproductive function, particularly ejaculation, requires
the integrity of urogenital sensory input and its ascending spinal
projections. After midthoracic chronic spinal cord injury, sexual
dysfunction occurs in both rats and humans. Neurons in the medullary
reticular formation (MRF) are involved in the processing of bilaterally
convergent sensory inputs from multiple cutaneous, mucocutaneous, and
visceral regions of the body, including the penis and male urogenital
tract. A variety of acute and chronic lesions were used to determine
the midthoracic location of ascending spinal pathways conveying sensory
input from the penis and male urogenital tract to MRF. A total of 371 single neurons were recorded in the MRF of 34 urethan-anesthetized
mature male rats. Twenty-seven rats received a chronic T8
dorsal (DHx) or lateral (LHx) hemisection or contusion (Cx) injury 30 days before the terminal electrophysiological experiments. In addition,
nine dorsal nerve of the penis (DNP)-responsive MRF neurons in seven
intact control animals were tested completely both before and after
various select acute spinal cord lesions. The chronic lesion data
indicate that low and high threshold input from the penis
(mucocutaneous) and male urogenital tract (visceral) ascend bilaterally
within the dorsal quadrant at T8 as opposed to high
threshold input from the hindpaws (cutaneous), which ascends unilaterally in the ventrolateral quadrant (VLQ). The acute lesion data
indicate that the low-threshold information conveyed from the penis and
male urogenital tract ascends in the dorsal columns, as opposed to the
high-threshold nociceptive inputs that ascend bilaterally in the
dorsolateral quadrant (DLQ). These results, as well as previous data on
ascending projections from female reproductive organs within the dorsal
columns and DLQ to other caudal brain stem nuclei, provide evidence for
ascending pathways conveying nociceptive information centrally via the
DLQ. This spinal gray-DLQ pathway(s) conveying information from
mucocutaneous/pelvic/visceral territories therefore differs from the
traditionally recognized spinal gray-VLQ pathway(s), which is known to
convey nociceptive information from cutaneous regions of the body.
This article has been cited by other articles:
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  K. J. Cothron, J. M. Massey, S. M. Onifer, and C. H. Hubscher Identification of penile inputs to the rat gracile nucleus Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, March 1, 2008; 294(3): R1015 - R1023. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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 H.-B. Wu, M. Stavarache, D. W. Pfaff, and L.-M. Kow Arousal of cerebral cortex electroencephalogram consequent to high-frequency stimulation of ventral medullary reticular formation PNAS, November 13, 2007; 104(46): 18292 - 18296. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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 E. G. Kaddumi and C. H. Hubscher Convergence of multiple pelvic organ inputs in the rat rostral medulla J. Physiol., April 15, 2006; 572(2): 393 - 405. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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 C. H. Hubscher and R. D. Johnson Effects of Chronic Dorsal Column Lesions on Pelvic Viscerosomatic Convergent Medullary Reticular Formation Neurons J Neurophysiol, December 1, 2004; 92(6): 3596 - 3600. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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 F. J. Golder, D. D. Fuller, P. W. Davenport, R. D. Johnson, P. J. Reier, and D. C. Bolser Respiratory Motor Recovery after Unilateral Spinal Cord Injury: Eliminating Crossed Phrenic Activity Decreases Tidal Volume and Increases Contralateral Respiratory Motor Output J. Neurosci., March 15, 2003; 23(6): 2494 - 2501. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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C. H. Hubscher and R. D. Johnson Responses of Thalamic Neurons to Input From the Male Genitalia J Neurophysiol, January 1, 2003; 89(1): 2 - 11. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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F. J. Golder, P. J. Reier, and D. C. Bolser Altered Respiratory Motor Drive after Spinal Cord Injury: Supraspinal and Bilateral Effects of a Unilateral Lesion J. Neurosci., November 1, 2001; 21(21): 8680 - 8689. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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C. H. Hubscher and R. D. Johnson Effects of Acute and Chronic Midthoracic Spinal Cord Injury on Neural Circuits for Male Sexual Function. II. Descending Pathways J Neurophysiol, May 1, 2000; 83(5): 2508 - 2518. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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D. Chau, D. G. Johns, and L. P. Schramm Ongoing and Stimulus-Evoked Activity of Sympathetically Correlated Neurons in the Intermediate Zone and Dorsal Horn of Acutely Spinalized Rats J Neurophysiol, May 1, 2000; 83(5): 2699 - 2707. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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