Brain Activation During Sexual Arousal And Orgasm In Women
|
|
Barry Komisaruk, Professor Emerita Beverly Whipple |
Women diagnosed with complete spinal cord injury (SCI) at T10 or higher reported sensations generated by vaginal-cervical mechanical self-stimulation(VCSS). Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we have observed brain responses to sexual arousal and orgasm in these women, and propose that the afferent pathway for this unexpected perception is provided by the Vagus nerves, which bypass the spinal cord.
Using fMRI, we ascertained that the region of the medulla oblongata to which the vagus nerves project (the Nucleus of the Solitary Tract -- NTS) is activated by VCSS. We also used an objective measure, VCSS-induced analgesia response to experimentally-induced finger pain, to ascertain the functionality of this pathway. During VCSS, several women experienced orgasms. Brain regions activated during orgasm included the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus, amygdala, accumbens-bed nucleus of the stria terminalis-preoptic area, hippocampus, basal ganglia (especially putamen), cerebellum, and anterior cingulate, insular, parietal and frontal cortices, and lower brainstem (central gray, mesencephalic reticular formation, and NTS). We conclude that the vagus nerves provide a spinal cord-bypass pathway for vaginal-cervical sensibility and that activation of this pathway can produce analgesia and orgasm. The brain regions activated during orgasm elicited by VCSS in able-bodied women were comparable to those in women with complete spinal cord injury.
Conflict of Interest: None disclosed
Financial Support/Funding: New Jersey Commission On Spinal Cord Research
Sydney Australia, April 2007
|
Barry Komisaruk
 |
Barry Komisaruk
|
PhD,
- Dept. Psychology, Rutgers, The State Univ. of NJ
- Dept. Radiology,Univ. Medicine and Dentistry NJ,Newark, NJ, U.S.A.
Beverly Whipple, PhD, RN, FAAN
- Professor Emerita, Rutgers, The State University of NJ
- Secretary General, World Association for Sexual Health (2005-2009)
- Past-President, Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality
- Former Director, International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health
- Past-President, American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists
|
Professor Emerita Beverly Whipple
|
Beverly Whipple, PhD, RN, FAAN
- Professor Emerita, Rutgers, The State University of NJ
- Secretary General, World Association for Sexual Health (2005-2009)
- Past-President, Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality
- Former Director, International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health
- Past-President, American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists
|
|
Navigation
......................................
......................................
......................................
|
Help
......................................
......................................
......................................
|
Audio Visual Archives
......................................
......................................
......................................
|
Useful
......................................
......................................
......................................
|
|
|
|
more about this speaker
