The familiar functions of the bladder and lower urinary tract—the storage and intermittent evacuation of urine—are served by three structural components: the bladder itself, the main component of which is the large detrusor (transitional type) muscle; a functional internal sphincter composed of similar muscle; and the striated external sphincter or urogenital diaphragm. The sphincters ensure continence; in the male, the internal sphincter also prevents the reflux of semen from the urethra during ejaculation. For micturition to occur, the sphincters must relax, allowing the detrusor to expel urine from the bladder into the urethra. This is accomplished by a complex mechanism involving mainly the parasympathetic nervous system (the sacral peripheral nerves derived from the second, third, and fourth sacral segments of the spinal cord and their somatic sensorimotor fibers) and, to a lesser extent, sympathetic fibers derived from the thorax. The vaguely localizable brainstem “micturition centers,” with their spinal and suprasegmental connections, may contribute (Fig. 25-4).
The detrusor muscle receives motor innervation from nerve cells in the intermediolateral columns of gray matter, mainly from the third and also from the second and fourth sacral segments of the spinal cord (the “detrusor center”). These neurons give rise to preganglionic fibers that synapse in parasympathetic ganglia within the bladder wall. Short postganglionic fibers end on muscarinic acetylcholine receptors of the muscle fibers. There are also beta-adrenergic receptors in the dome of the bladder, which are activated by sympathetic fibers that arise in the intermediolateral nerve cells of T10, T11, and T12 segments. These preganglionic fibers pass via inferior splanchnic nerves to the inferior mesenteric ganglia (see Fig. 25-1); preand postganglionic sympathetic axons are conveyed by the hypogastric nerve to the pelvic plexus and the bladder dome. The internal sphincter and base of the bladder (trigone), consisting of smooth muscle, are also innervated to some extent by the sympathetic fibers of the hypogastric nerves; their receptors are mainly of alpha-adrenergic type, which makes it possible to therapeutically manipulate the function of the sphincter with adrenergically active drugs as well as the more commonly used cholinergic ones (see further on).
The external urethral and anal sphincters are composed of striated muscle fibers. Their innervation, via the pudendal nerves, is derived from a densely packed group of somatomotor neurons (nucleus of Onuf) in the anterolateral horns of sacral segments 2, 3, and 4. Cells in the ventrolateral part of Onuf’s nucleus innervate the external urethral sphincter, and cells of the mediodorsal part innervate the anal sphincter. The muscle fibers of the sphincters respond to the nicotinic effects of ACh.
The pudendal nerves also contain afferent fibers coursing from the urethra and the external sphincter to the sacral segments of the spinal cord. These fibers convey impulses for reflex activities and, through connections with higher centers, for sensation. Some of these fibers probably course through the hypogastric plexus, as indicated by the fact that patients with complete transverse lesions of the cord as high as T12 may report vague sensations of urethral discomfort. The bladder is sensitive to pain and pressure; these senses are transmitted to higher centers along the sensory pathways described in Chaps. 7 and 8.