Placenta Ingestion Enhances Analgesia\ud Produced by Vaginal/Cervical\ud Stimulation in Rats

Ingestion of placenta has previously been shown to enhance opiate-mediated analgesia (measured as tail-flick latency) induced either by morphine injection or by footshock. The present study was designed to test whether placenta ingestion would enhance the partly opiate-mediated analgesia produced by vaginal/cervical stimulation. Nulliparous Sprague-Dawley rats were tested for analgesia, using tail-flick latency, during and after vaginal/cervical stimulation; the tests for vaginal/cervical stimulation-induced analgesia were administered both before and after the rats ate placenta or ground beef. Placenta ingestion, but not beef ingestion. significantly heightened vaginal/cervical stimulation-induced analgesia. A subsequent morphine injection provided evidence that, as in a previous report, placenta ingestion, but not beef ingestion, enhanced morphine-induced analgesia

Sensory innervation of the external and internal genitalia of the female rat

Using a whole-nerve recording method, the genitalia of the female rat were found to receive afferent innervation as follows. Pelvic nerve: vagina, cervix, and perineal skin; hypogastric nerve: cervix and proximal three fifths of the uterus; pudendal nerve: skin of perineum, inner thigh, and clitoral sheath. It is probable that the pudendal and pelvic nerves are activated during copulation, and that all 3 nerves are activated during parturition

The DSM diagnostic criteria for female orgasmic disorder

This is the post-print version of the article. The official published version can be found at the link below.This article reviews the DSM diagnostic criteria for Female Orgasmic Disorder (FOD). Following an overview of the concept of female orgasm, research on the prevalence and associated features of FOD is briefly reviewed. Specific aspects of the DSM-IV-TR criteria for FOD are critically reviewed and key issues that should be considered for DSM-V are discussed. The DSM-IV-TR text on FOD focused on the physiological changes that may (or may not) accompany orgasm in women; one of the major recommendations here is that greater emphasis be given to the subjective aspects of the experience of orgasm. Additional specific recommendations are made for revision of diagnostic criteria, including the use of minimum severity and duration criteria, and better acknowledgment of the crucial role of relationship factors in FOD

Immature psychological defense mechanisms and the misrepresentations of some sex researchers

The authors reply to a quartet of recent articles in this journal. We detail certain misrepresentations and the dismissal of existing research in those articles (including attempts at denial of the repeatedly documented association of lack of vaginal orgasm with greater use of immature psychological defense mechanisms and other indices of poorer health). The authors also call for a less defensive and less doctrinaire approach to sex research, especially, but not exclusively, when the prevailing ideology in the fields of sexology might be undermining optimal health