The sympathetic innervation of the vagina

Abstract

The main facts in regard to the origin, course, and function of the nerves to the internal generative organs, were established by Langley and Anderson (1). They found that, in the cat and rabbit, efferent fibres to the uterus and vagina come from the third, fourth, and fifth lumbar nerves, “run by the white rami communicantes to the sympathetic, and nearly all of them run then to the inferior mesenteric ganglia. From the inferior mesenteric ganglia they proceed by the hypogastric nerves. The efferent fibres are motor to the muscular walls. The effect on the uterus and vagina is more constant in the rabbit than in the cat, though in both it varies with the state of the uterus with regard to parturition. In the cat, pallor of the uterus, with little or no contraction, is not infrequently seen.” “In no part of their course have the lumbar nerves, in our experiments, shown any inhibitory or vaso-dilator action on the uterus or vagina.”