Evidence of vagus nerve sprouting to innervate the urinary bladder and clitoris in a canine model of lower motoneuron lesioned bladder

The study investigates whether the vagus nerve, which isn't typically thought to innervate pelvic organs, might sprout new nerve endings to connect to the urinary bladder and clitoris after the bladder is surgically disconnected from its normal nerve supply. The researchers performed nerve transfer surgeries in dogs to reroute nerve signals to the bladder after it had been disconnected. They then used special dyes to trace nerve connections and see if any originated from the vagus nerve. The results showed that in dogs with surgically disconnected bladders, the vagus nerve did indeed sprout new connections to both the bladder and the clitoris, suggesting the vagus nerve can adapt to innervate these organs under certain conditions.

• 1
  Increased detrusor pressure was seen in nerve transfer animals after functional electrical stimulation (FES).
• 2
  Nodose ganglia cells labeled from the bladder were observed in 5/7 nerve transfer animals, and from the clitoris were in 6/7 nerve transfer animals.
• 3
  Dorsal motor nucleus vagus cells labeled from the bladder were observed in 3/5 nerve transfer animals, and from the clitoris in 4/5 nerve transfer animals; controls lacked this labeling.