Figure 8.

Bladder pelvic nerve afferent activity during micturition cycle. (A) Bladder afferent nerve activity increased during filling, followed by a drop in activity before the void (n = 4). The ramping discharge of the afferent nerve was progressive and followed the increase in bladder pressure. At void, afferent nerve bursting was observed to be in anti-phase with the EUS bursting activity [expanded in (B)]. (C) Changes in bladder pressure during NMCs were associated with increase in both, EUS–EMG and afferent nerve discharge. To ascertain that this was a nerve response, muscle relaxant was applied (vecuronium dose 2 μg/ml, systemically) (D), which resulted in complete abolition of EUS activity, while afferent activity remained on the pelvic nerve in synchrony with the NMCs.