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Updated: Feb 25, 2026
Intracavernosal Pressure Recording to Evaluate Erectile Function in Rodents
Published on: June 6, 2018
Assessment of the septal area neuronal activity during penile erections in rapid eye movement sleep and waking in the
Kamalesh K Gulia1,2, Yukihiko Kayama3, Yoshimasa Koyama4
1Division of Sleep Research, Biomedical Technology Wing, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum, Kerala, 695012, India. kkguliak@hotmail.com.
Abstract:
To understand the central mechanism of penile erections during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and waking, single units were recorded from the septal area in un-anesthetized head-restrained rats simultaneous with erections. Erectile events were assessed by pressure in the bulb of the corpus spongiosum of the penis and bulbospongiosus-muscle activity. Of 143 recorded neurons, 36% showed increased activity (E-type) and 24% decreased activity (I-type) during different phases of erection in REM sleep, while 10% were E-type and 35% were I-type during erections in waking. Most E-type neurons were recorded from the dorsal and intermediate part of lateral septum, whereas I-type neurons were from the medial septum. The findings illustrate the extensive network of various types of neurons in the septal area that fire in concert in relation to erection during REM sleep and waking. This study provides a unique prospective of the septal area for perpetuation of erectile circuitry during sleep.
