The somatosensory representation of the human clitoris: An fMRI study

NeuroImage

Volumn 49, Issue 1, 2010, Pages 177-184

  Michels, Lars ^b   Mehnert, Ulrich ^a   Boy, Sönke ^a   Schurch, Brigitte ^a   Kollias, Spyros ^b  

^a BALGRIST UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL   (Switzerland)

^b UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL ZURICH   (Switzerland)

Author keywords

Clitoris; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Hallux; Homunculus; Primary and secondary somatosensory cortices

Indexed keywords

ADULT; ARTICLE; BRAIN FUNCTION; CLITORIS; CONTROLLED STUDY; FEMALE; FUNCTIONAL MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING; HALLUX; HUMAN; HUMAN EXPERIMENT; IMAGE DISPLAY; NERVE CELL NETWORK; NERVE STIMULATION; NORMAL HUMAN; PRIORITY JOURNAL; PUDENDAL NERVE; SOMATOSENSORY CORTEX;

ADULT; CLITORIS; ELECTRIC STIMULATION; FEMALE; HUMANS; IMAGE PROCESSING, COMPUTER-ASSISTED; MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING; SEXUAL BEHAVIOR; SOMATOSENSORY CORTEX; YOUNG ADULT;

EID: 70349969828     PISSN: 10538119     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.07.024     Document Type: Article

References (47)

1. Allison T., McCarthy G., Luby M., Puce A., and Spencer D.D. Localization of functional regions of human mesial cortex by somatosensory evoked potential recording and by cortical stimulation. Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol. 100 (1996) 126-140
2. Arzy S., Thut G., Mohr C., Michel C.M., and Blanke O. Neural basis of embodiment: distinct contributions of temporoparietal junction and extrastriate body area. J. Neurosci. 26 (2006) 8074-8081
3. Blickenstorfer A., Kleiser R., Keller T., Keisker B., Meyer M., Riener R., and Kollias S. Cortical and subcortical correlates of functional electrical stimulation of wrist extensor and flexor muscles revealed by fMRI. Hum. Brain Mapp. 30 (2009) 963-975
4. Bradley W.E., Farrell D.F., and Ojemann G.A. Human cerebrocortical potentials evoked by stimulation of the dorsal nerve of the penis. Somatosens. Motor Res. 15 (1998) 118-127
5. Brubaker L. Electrical stimulation in overactive bladder. Urology 55 (2000) 17-23 discussion 31-12
6. Craggs M., and McFarlane J. Neuromodulation of the lower urinary tract. Exp. Physiol. 84 (1999) 149-160
7. Craig A.D. How do you feel? Interoception: the sense of the physiological condition of the body. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 3 (2002) 655-666
8. Critchley H.D. Neural mechanisms of autonomic, affective, and cognitive integration. J. Comp. Neurol. 493 (2005) 154-166
9. Damasio A.R. The somatic marker hypothesis and the possible functions of the prefrontal cortex. Philos. Trans. R Soc. Lond., B Biol. Sci. 351 (1996) 1413-1420
10. Eickhoff S.B., Stephan K.E., Mohlberg H., Grefkes C., Fink G.R., Amunts K., and Zilles K. A new SPM toolbox for combining probabilistic cytoarchitectonic maps and functional imaging data. Neuroimage 25 (2005) 1325-1335
11. Eickhoff S.B., Amunts K., Mohlberg H., and Zilles K. The human parietal operculum. II. Stereotaxic maps and correlation with functional imaging results. Cereb. Cortex 16 (2006) 268-279
12. Eickhoff S.B., Schleicher A., Zilles K., and Amunts K. The human parietal operculum. I. Cytoarchitectonic mapping of subdivisions. Cereb Cortex 16 (2006) 254-267
13. Eickhoff S.B., Grefkes C., Zilles K., and Fink G.R. The somatotopic organization of cytoarchitectonic areas on the human parietal operculum. Cereb. Cortex 17 (2007) 1800-1811
14. Fall M., and Lindstrom S. Electrical stimulation. A physiologic approach to the treatment of urinary incontinence. Urol. Clin. North Am. 18 (1991) 393-407
15. Farah M.J. Why does the somatosensory homunculus have hands next to face and feet next to genitals? A hypothesis. Neural Comput. 10 (1998) 1983-1985
16. Forman S.D., Cohen J.D., Fitzgerald M., Eddy W.F., Mintun M.A., and Noll D.C. Improved assessment of significant activation in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI): use of a cluster-size threshold. Magn. Reson. Med. 33 (1995) 636-647
17. Forss N., Salmelin R., and Hari R. Comparison of somatosensory evoked fields to airpuff and electric stimuli. Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol. 92 (1994) 510-517
18. Friston K.J., Holmes A.P., and Worsley K.J. How many subjects constitute a study?. Neuroimage 10 (1999) 1-5
19. Georgiadis J.R., Kortekaas R., Kuipers R., Nieuwenburg A., Pruim J., Reinders A.A., and Holstege G. Regional cerebral blood flow changes associated with clitorally induced orgasm in healthy women. Eur J. Neurosci. 24 (2006) 3305-3316
20. Geyer S., Schleicher A., and Zilles K. Areas 3a, 3b, and 1 of human primary somatosensory cortex 1. Microstructural organization and interindividual variability. Neuroimage 10 (1999) 63-83
21. Geyer S., Schormann T., Mohlerg H., and Zilles K. Areas 3a, 3b, and 1 of human primary somatosensory cortex - 2. Spatial normalization to standard anatomical space. Neuroimage 11 (2000) 684-696
22. Goebel R., Esposito F., and Formisano E. Analysis of functional image analysis contest (FIAC) data with BrainVoyager QX: from single-subject to cortically aligned group general linear model analysis and self-organizing group independent component analysis. Hum. Brain Mapp. 27 (2006) 392-401
23. Goldman H.B., Amundsen C.L., Mangel J., Grill J., Bennett M., Gustafson K.J., and Grill W.M. Dorsal genital nerve stimulation for the treatment of overactive bladder symptoms. Neurourol. Urodyn. 27 (2008) 499-503
24. Grefkes C., Geyer S., Schormann T., Roland P., and Zilles K. Human somatosensory area 2: observer-independent cytoarchitectonic mapping, interindividual variability, and population map. Neuroimage 14 (2001) 617-631
25. Guerit J.M., and Opsomer R.J. Bit-mapped imaging of somatosensory evoked-potentials after stimulation of the posterior tibial nerves and dorsal nerve of the penis clitoris. Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol. 80 (1991) 228-237
26. Hari R., Reinikainen K., Kaukoranta E., Hamalainen M., Ilmoniemi R., Penttinen A., Salminen J., and Teszner D. Somatosensory evoked cerebral magnetic fields from SI and SII in man. Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol. 57 (1984) 254-263
27. Huttunen J., Kaukoranta E., and Hari R. Cerebral magnetic responses to stimulation of tibial and sural nerves. J. Neurol. Sci. 79 (1987) 43-54
28. Kell C.A., von Kriegstein K., Rosler A., Kleinschmidt A., and Laufs H. The sensory cortical representation of the human penis: revisiting somatotopy in the male homunculus. J. Neurosci. 25 (2005) 5984-5987
29. Kuhtz-Buschbeck J.P., van der Horst C., Wolff S., Filippow N., Nabavi A., Jansen O., and Braun P.M. Activation of the supplementary motor area (SMA) during voluntary pelvic floor muscle contractions - an fMRI study. Neuroimage 35 (2007) 449-457
30. Kuhtz-Buschbeck J.P., Gilster R., van der Horst C., Hamann M., Wolff S., and Jansen O. Control of bladder sensations: an fMRI study of brain activity and effective connectivity. Neuroimage 47 (2009) 18-27
31. Makela J.P., Illman M., Jousmaki V., Numminen J., Lehecka M., Salenius S., Forss N., and Hari R. Dorsal penile nerve stimulation elicits left-hemisphere dominant activation in the second somatosensory cortex. Hum. Brain Mapp. 18 (2003) 90-99
32. Martin-Alguacil N., Schober J.M., Sengelaub D.R., Pfaff D.W., and Shelley D.N. Clitoral sexual arousal: neuronal tracing study from the clitoris through the spinal tracts. J. Urol. 180 (2008) 1241-1248
33. Mehnert U., Boy S., Svensson J., Michels L., Reitz A., Candia V., Kleiser R., Kollias S., and Schurch B. Brain activation in response to bladder filling and simultaneous stimulation of the dorsal clitoral nerve - an fMRI study in healthy women. Neuroimage 41 (2008) 682-689
34. Nakagawa H., Namima T., Aizawa M., Uchi K., Kaiho Y., Yoshikawa K., Orikasa S., and Nakasato N. Somatosensory evoked magnetic fields elicited by dorsal penile, posterior tibial and median nerve stimulation. Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol. 108 (1998) 57-61
35. Opisso E., Borau A., Rodriguez A., Hansen J., and Rijkhoff N.J. Patient controlled versus automatic stimulation of pudendal nerve afferents to treat neurogenic detrusor overactivity. J. Urol. 180 (2008) 1403-1408
36. Penfield W., and Boldrey E. Somatic motor and sensory representation in the cerebral cortex of man as studied by electrical stimulation. Brain 60 (1937) 389-443
37. Pfeifer B. Die Störungen der Sensibilität im Gebiete der Genito-Analhaut bei Hirnverletzten. Zeitschrift der gesamten Neurologie und Psychiatrie 53 (1920) 5-38
38. Pratt H., Starr A., Amlie R.N., and Politoske D. Mechanically and electrically evoked somatosensory potentials in normal humans. Neurology 29 (1979) 1236-1244
39. Reitz A., Schmid D.M., Curt A., Knapp P.A., and Schurch B. Autonomic dysreflexia in response to pudendal nerve stimulation. Spinal Cord 41 (2003) 539-542
40. Rothemund Y., Qi H.X., Collins C.E., and Kaas J.H. The genitals and gluteal skin are represented lateral to the foot in anterior parietal somatosensory cortex of macaques. Somatosens. Mot. Res. 19 (2002) 302-315
41. Seseke S., Baudewig J., Kallenberg K., Ringert R.H., Seseke F., and Dechent P. Voluntary pelvic floor muscle control - an fMRI study. Neuroimage 31 (2006) 1399-1407
42. Talairach J., and Tournoux P. Co-Planar Stereotaxic Atlas of the Human Brain: Three-Dimensional Proportional System (1988), Georg Thieme, Stuttgart
43. Yamada T., Matsubara M., Shiraishi G., Yeh M., and Kawasaki M. Topographic analyses of somatosensory evoked potentials following stimulation of tibial, sural and lateral femoral cutaneous nerves. Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol. 100 (1996) 33-43
44. Yang C.C., and Kromm B.G. New techniques in female pudendal somatosensory evoked potential testing. Somatosens. Mot. Res. 21 (2004) 9-14
45. Young J.P., Herath P., Eickhoff S., Choi J., Grefkes C., Zilles K., and Roland P.E. Somatotopy and attentional modulation of the human parietal and opercular regions. J. Neurosci. 24 (2004) 5391-5399
46. Yucel S., and Baskin L.S. Neuroanatomy of the male urethra and perineum. BJU Int. 92 (2003) 624-630
47. Zilles K., Schlaug G., Matelli M., Luppino G., Schleicher A., Qu M., Dabringhaus A., Seitz R., and Roland P.E. Mapping of human and macaque sensorimotor areas by integrating architectonic, transmitter receptor, MRI and PET data. J. Anat. 187 Pt 3 (1995) 515-537