Abstract
Sleep-related erections (SRE) naturally occur during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, a physiological phenomenon that was previously termed nocturnal penile tumescence. In humans, these SREs occur during virtually every REM period from infancy to old age and have no relationship with dream content. Erection cycles during sleep have historically been used in the clinical setting to evaluate patients complaining of erectile dysfunction as a means to differentiate psychogenic from organic erectile failure, given the involuntary occurrence of erection cycles during sleep. Erections during REM sleep have also been documented in rats, thus establishing the first animal model for SRE research. This model has established a role for the lateral preoptic area (LPOA) in the control of erections during REM sleep. Bilateral lesions of the LPOA eliminate REM-related erections, yet leave waking-state erections intact in the rat, consistent with an emerging view that the higher central mechanisms of erections may be context specific.
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