A Pivotal Role of Lumbar Spinothalamic Cells in the Regulation of Ejaculation via Intraspinal Connections

Introduction.  A population of lumbar spinothalamic cells (LSt cells) has been demonstrated to play a pivotal role in ejaculatory behavior and comprise a critical component of the spinal ejaculation generator. LSt cells are hypothesized to regulate ejaculation via their projections to autonomic and motor neurons in the lumbosacral spinal cord. Aim.  The current study tested the hypothesis that ejaculatory reflexes are dependent on LSt cells via projections within the lumbosacral spinal cord. Methods.  Male rats received intraspinal injections of neurotoxin saporin conjugated to substance P analog, previously shown to selectively lesion LSt cells. Two weeks later, males were anesthetized and spinal cords were transected. Subsequently, males were subjected to ejaculatory reflex paradigms, including stimulation of the dorsal penile nerve (DPN), urethrogenital stimulation or administration of D3 agonist 7‐OH‐DPAT. Electromyographic recordings of the bulbocavernosus muscle (BCM) were analyzed for rhythmic bursting characteristic of the expulsion phase of ejaculation. In addition, a fourth commonly used paradigm for ejaculation and erections in unanesthetized, spinal‐intact male rats was utilized: the ex copula reflex paradigm. Main Outcome Measures.  LSt cell lesions were predicted to prevent rhythmic bursting of BCM following DPN, urethral, or pharmacological stimulation, and emissions in the ex copula paradigm. In contrast, LSt cell lesions were not expected to abolish erectile function as measured in the ex copula paradigm. Results.  LSt cell lesions prevented rhythmic contractions of the BCM induced by any of the ejaculatory reflex paradigms in spinalized rats. However, LSt cell lesions did not affect erectile function nor emissions determined in the ex copula reflex paradigm. Conclusions.  These data demonstrate that LSt cells are essential for ejaculatory, but not erectile reflexes, as previously reported for mating animals. Moreover, LSt cells mediate ejaculation via projections within the spinal cord, presumably to autonomic and motor neurons. Staudt MD, Truitt WA, McKenna KE, de Oliveira CVR, Lehman MN, and Coolen LM. A pivotal role of lumbar spinothalamic cells in the regulation of ejaculation via intraspinal connections. J Sex Med 2012;9:2256–2265.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/93690/1/j.1743-6109.2011.02574.x.pd

Effects of the intra-uterine administration of Montanoa tomentosa extracts upon Postpartum Metritis in the dairy cow

Montanoa tomentosa aqueous crude extract has been used for the last five centuries for the induction of labor, regulation of fertility, treatment of postpartum bleeding problems and to induce menses. In the present study, the hypothesis that the aqueous crude extract of M. tomentosa alleviates the metritis of dairy cows was tested. Adult Holstein Friesian dairy cows were diagnosed by gynaecological palpation as positive to postpartum metritis and single individual treatments of M. tomentosa or oxytetracycline were intra-uterine administered. Results showed that intrauterine administration of crude extracts of M. tomentosa alleviates the postpartum metritis without altering the ovarian activity. Present data reveal an emmenagogue action of the M. tomentosa extract in dairy cows that suffer postpartum metritis.Keywords: metritis, emmenagogues; dairy cows; Mexican plant; traditional remed

Garteur AD/AG-52: Surrogate-Based Global Optimization Methods in Preliminary Aerodynamic Design

Andrés-Pérez E, González-Juarez D, Martin M, et al. Garteur AD/AG-52: Surrogate-Based Global Optimization Methods in Preliminary Aerodynamic Design. In: Andrés-Pérez E, González LM, Periaux J, Gauger N, Quagliarella D, Giannakoglou K, eds. Evolutionary and Deterministic Methods for Design Optimization and Control With Applications to Industrial and Societal Problems. Computational Methods in Applied Sciences. Vol 49. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2019: 195-210.This work presents a summary of the results obtained during the activities developed within the GARTEUR AD/AG-52 group. GARTEUR stands for “Group for Aeronautical Research and Technology in Europe” and is a multinational organization that performs high quality, collaborative, precompetitive research in the field of aeronautics to improve technological competence of the European Aerospace Industry. The aim of the AG52 group was to make an evaluation and assessment of surrogate-based global optimization methods for aerodynamic shape design of aeronautical configurations. The structure of the paper is as follows: Sect. “Introduction” will introduce the state-of-the-art in surrogate-based optimization for aerodynamic design and Sect. “Definition of Common Test Cases and Methods” will detail the test cases selected in the AG52 group. Optimization results will be then showed in Sect. “Optimization Results”, and conclusions will be provided in the last section

Neuroanatomy and neurophysiology related to sexual dysfunction in male neurogenic patients with lesions to the spinal cord or peripheral nerves

Study design: Review article. Objectives: The neuroanatomy and physiology of psychogenic erection, cholinergic versus adrenergic innervation of emission and the predictability of outcome of vibration and electroejaculation require a review and synthesis. Setting: University Hospital Belgium. Methods: We reviewed the literature with PubMed 1973-2008. Results: Erection, emission and ejaculation are separate phenomena and have different innervations. It is important to realize, which are the afferents and efferents and where the motor neuron of the end organ is located. When interpreting a specific lesion it is important to understand if postsynaptic fibres are intact or not. Afferents of erection, emission and ejaculation are the pudendal nerve and descending pathways from the brain. Erection is cholinergic and NO-mediated. Emission starts cholinergically (as a secretion) and ends sympathetically (as a contraction). Ejaculation is mainly adrenergic and somatic. For vibratory-evoked ejaculation, the reflex arch must be complete; for electroejaculation, the postsynaptic neurons (paravertebral ganglia) must be intact. Conclusion: Afferents of erection, emission and ejaculation are the pudendal nerve and descending pathways from the brain. Erection is cholinergic and NO-mediated. Emission starts cholinergically (as a secretion) and ends sympathetically (as a contraction). Ejaculation is mainly adrenergic and somatic. In neurogenic disease, a good knowledge of neuroanatomy and physiology makes understanding of sexual dysfunction possible and predictable. The minimal requirement for the success of penile vibration is a preserved reflex arch and the minimal requirement for the success of electroejaculation is the existence of intact post-ganglionic fibres. Spinal Cord (2010) 48, 182-191; doi: 10.1038/sc.2009.172; published online 5 January 201