what do you call that reflex after you void or micturate?

Answers:
Which reflex?

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I don't know, but that rug really pulled the room together.

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sphincter

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Mechanism of Urination
The action potentials are carried by sensory neurons to the sacral segments of the spinal cord through the pelvic nerves the parasympathetic fibers carry the action potentials to the urinary bladder in the pelvic nerves. This causes the wall of the bladder to contract. In addition, decreased somatic motor action potentials cause the external urinary sphincter, which consists of skeletal muscle, to relax. When the external urinary sphincter is relaxed urine will flow from the urinary bladder when the pressure there is great enough to force urine to flow through the urethra. The micturition reflex normally produces a series of contractions of the urinary bladder.Action potentials carried by sensory neurons from stretch receptors in the urinary bladder wall also ascend the spinal cord to a micturition center in the pons and to the cerebrum. Descending potentials are sent from these areas of the brain to the sacral region of the spinal cord, where they modify the activity of the micturition reflex in the spinal cord. The micturition reflex, integrated in the spinal cord, predominates in infants. The ability to voluntarily inhibit micturition develops at the age of 2-3 years, and subsequently, the influence of the pons and cerebrum on the spinal micturition reflex predominates. The micturition reflex integrated in the spinal cord is automatic, but it is either stimulated or inhibited by descending action potentials. Higher brain centers prevent micturition by sending action potentials from the cerebrum and pons through spinal pathways to inhibit the spinal micturition reflex. Consequently, parasympathetic stimulation of the urinary bladder is inhibited and somatic motor neurons that keep the external urinary sphincter contracted are stimulated.The pressure in the urinary bladder increases rapidly once its volume exceeds approximately 400-500 ml, and there is an increase in the frequency of action potentials carried by sensory neurons. The increased frequency of action potentials conducted by the ascending spinal pathways to the pons and cerebrum results in an increased desire to urinate.Voluntary initiation of micturition involves an increase in action potentials sent from the cerebrum to facilitate the micturition reflex and to voluntarily relax the external urinary sphincter. In addition to facilitating the micturition reflex, there is an increased voluntary contraction of abdominal muscles, which causes an increase in abdominal pressure. This enhances the micturition reflex by increasing the pressure applied to the urinary bladder wall.
Anatomic Considerations
The smooth muscle of the bladder, like that of the ureters, is arranged in spiral, longitudinal, and circular bundles. Contraction of this muscle, which is called the detrusor muscle, is mainly responsible for emptying the bladder during urination (micturition). Muscle bundles pass on either side of the urethra, and these fibers are sometimes called the internal urethral sphincter, although they do not encircle the urethra. Farther along the urethra is a sphincter of skeletal muscle, the sphincter of the membranous urethra (external urethral sphincter). The bladder epithelium is made up of a superficial layer of flat cells and a deep layer of cuboidal cells.
Micturition
The physiology of micturition and the physiologic basis of its disorders are subjects about which there is much confusion. Micturition is fundamentally a spinal reflex facilitated and inhibited by higher brain centers and, like defecation, subject to voluntary facilitation and inhibition. Urine enters the bladder without producing much increase in intravesical pressure until the viscus is well filled. In addition, like other types of smooth muscle, the bladder muscle has the property of plasticity; when it is stretched, the tension initially produced is not maintained. The relation between intravesical pressure and volume can be studied by inserting a catheter and emptying the bladder, then recording the pressure while the bladder is filled with 50-mL increments of water or air (cystometry). A plot of intravesical pressure against the volume of fluid in the bladder is called a cystometrogram . The curve shows an initial slight rise in pressure when the first increments in volume are produced; a long, nearly flat segment as further increments are produced; and a sudden, sharp rise in pressure as the micturition reflex is triggered. These three components are sometimes called segments Ia, Ib, and II. The first urge to void is felt at a bladder volume of about 150 mL, and a marked sense of fullness at about 400 mL. The flatness of segment Ib is a manifestation of the law of Laplace . This law states that the pressure in a spherical viscus is equal to twice the wall tension divided by the radius. In the case of the bladder, the tension increases as the organ fills, but so does the radius. Therefore, the pressure increase is slight until the organ is relatively full.During micturition, the perineal muscles and external urethral sphincter are relaxed; the detrusor muscle contracts; and urine passes out through the urethra. The bands of smooth muscle on either side of the urethra apparently play no role in micturition, and their main function is believed to be the prevention of reflux of semen into the bladder during ejaculation.The mechanism by which voluntary urination is initiated remains unsettled. One of the initial events is relaxation of the muscles of the pelvic floor, and this may cause a sufficient downward tug on the detrusor muscle to initiate its contraction. The perineal muscles and external sphincter can be contracted voluntarily, preventing urine from passing down the urethra or interrupting the flow once urination has begun. It is through the learned ability to maintain the external sphincter in a contracted state that adults are able to delay urination until the opportunity to void presents itself. After urination, the female urethra empties by gravity. Urine remaining in the urethra of the male is expelled by several contractions of the bulbospongiosus muscle.
Reflex Control
The bladder smooth muscle has some inherent contractile activity; however, when its nerve supply is intact, stretch receptors in the bladder wall initiate a reflex contraction that has a lower threshold than the inherent contractile response of the muscle. Fibers in the pelvic nerves are the afferent limb of the voiding reflex, and the parasympathetic fibers to the bladder that constitute the efferent limb also travel in these nerves. The reflex is integrated in the sacral portion of the spinal cord. In the adult, the volume of urine in the bladder that normally initiates a reflex contraction is about 300-400 mL. The sympathetic nerves to the bladder play no part in micturition, but they do mediate the contraction of the bladder muscle that prevents semen from entering the bladder during ejaculation.There is no small motor nerve system to the stretch receptors in the bladder wall; but the threshold for the voiding reflex, like the stretch reflexes, is adjusted by the activity of facilitatory and inhibitory centers in the brain stem. There is a facilitatory area in the pontine region and an inhibitory area in the midbrain. After transection of the brain stem just above the pons, the threshold is lowered and less bladder filling is required to trigger it, whereas after transection at the top of the midbrain, the threshold for the reflex is essentially normal. There is another facilitatory area in the posterior hypothalamus. In humans with lesions in the superior frontal gyrus, the desire to urinate is reduced and there is also difficulty in stopping micturition once it has commenced. However, stimulation experiments in animals indicate that other cortical areas also affect the process. The bladder can be made to contract by voluntary facilitation of the spinal voiding reflex when it contains only a few milliliters of urine. Voluntary contraction of the abdominal muscles aids the expulsion of urine by increasing the intra-abdominal pressure, but voiding can be initiated without straining even when the bladder is nearly empty.Thinking about sex preoccupies the brain to avoid much discomfort when constraining to urinate

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