Reflex penile erection in anesthetized mice: An exploratory study

Abstract

Ejaculatory-like rhythmic contractions of the bulbospongiosus (BS) muscle and penile erection can be elicited in the urethane-anesthetized rat, following spinal cord transection, upon electrical stimulation (ES) of the dorsal penile nerve (DPN). The aim of this work was to investigate this reflex in anesthetized mice. Adult C57BL6 mice were anesthetized with isoflurane. The BS muscle and corpus cavernosum were instrumented to allow quantification of the BS muscle electromyographic activity (BS EMG) and intracavernosal pressure respectively. The femoral artery and jugular vein were catheterized to allow measurement of blood pressure and compound administration. ES of the DPN, via bipolar silver electrodes, reliably evoked erectile responses in mice with intact spinal cords. The overall amplitude of the erectile response was frequency- and pulse duration–dependent. Erectile responses were abolished by bilateral cut of the sensory branch of the pudendal nerve. Transection of the spinal cord potentiated the erectile responses and increased the area under the curve of the BS EMG when compared with those animals with intact spinal cords. However, no coordinated rhythmic contractions of the BS muscle during or after the ES could be observed, with or without spinal transection. Melanotan-II failed to enhance the erectile response induced by ES of the DPN, in mice with intact spinal cords. ES of the DPN in isoflurane-anesthetized mice could be a useful model in which to study the interplay between brain and spinal cord in the control of reflex penile erection, and could take advantage of knockout mice models. However, the lack of efficacy of Melanotan-II suggests that further experiments are necessary to confirm the future utility of this model. In contrast to rats, the expulsion reflex could not be reliably elicited in mice with or without spinal transection. This latter finding suggests the existence of fundamental differences in the organization of the spinal network controlling sexual reflexes between rats and mice.