Central nervous system control of micturition reflex

Abstract

The storage and elimination of urine depend on the coordinated activity of urinary bladder and urethra. This coordination is mediated by a complex neural control system including the peripheral ganglia, the spinal cord and the brain. In recent year functional brain imaging has made remarkable progress, which made it possible to study the brain control mechanism directly. Healthy volunteers’ study revealed that the brain is activated during bladder filling particularly in the pontine micturition centre, the periaqueductal grey, hypothalamus, the anterior cingulate gyrus, and the prefrontal cortex. Moreover, functional brain imaging has been extended to pathological conditions. These approaches will shed further light on bladder function and dysfunction. In this mini-review, we present recent functional brain imaging findings relevant to micturition reflex, which would facilitate to help patients with bladder dysfunction.