Sexually responsive vascular tissue of the vulva

Abstract

OBJECTIVE To better understand the genital changes that occur during the female sexual response, using a gross anatomical and histological study of the vascular tissue of the vulva, supplemented with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MATERIALS AND METHODS Seven cadaveric vulvectomy specimens were used; they were serially sectioned in coronal, sagittal, and axial planes, and stained with haematoxylin and eosin. Selected blocks were stained with elastic Masson's trichrome. Axial MR images were taken of two healthy women with intact sexual functioning using a gadolinium‐based blood‐pool contrast agent. A 1.5 T system was used for all MRI studies, with images taken at baseline and during sexual arousal while viewing an erotic videotape. RESULTS There are five vascular compartments of the female external genitalia, found in the clitoris, clitoral bulbs, labia minora, urethra, and vestibule/vagina. Of these five compartments, two distinct types of vascular tissue were identified, i.e. erectile and non‐erectile/specialized genital. The erectile tissue compartments had the greatest change in blood volume during sexual arousal, as assessed by MRI. CONCLUSIONS The vulva contains a substantial amount of vascular tissue. These specialized tissues show a variable, but unified response to sexual arousal.

Does Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) Affect Women’s Sexual Functioning? A Systematic Review of the Sexual Consequences of FGM/C

“…The areas surrounding excised genital tissues are less receptive to tactile stimulation than intact genital tissues (Elnashar and Abdelhady 2007;Thabet and Thabet 2003). In fact, cutting the vulva may damage neural innervations much the same way as radical vulvectomy following cancer (Einstein 2008 important for female sexual response (Yang et al 2005), may not only be damaged but partially missing in some women with FGM/C. Recall that anatomical studies show that the specialized sensory nerves of the clitoris, the only function of which is to produce sexual arousal, are concentrated in a rich neurovascular area of only a few centimetres (Baskin et al 1999;Hyde and Delamater 2006).…”

Functional Anatomy of the Female Sex Organs

“…Gross anatomical and histological study of the clitoris, clitoral bulbs, labia minora, and urethra reveals them to contain specialized vascular tissues that are sexually responsive [1] and consist of two histologically distinct types of vascular tissue. The first type is the trabeculated erectile tissue seen in the clitoris and the bulbs.…”

Basics of Vulval Embryology, Anatomy and Physiology

“…There has been poor one-dimensional presentation of clitoral anatomy in textbooks (O'Connell et al 1998). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been used to investigate clitoral function and has complemented the results of anatomical dissection studies (O'Connell & Delancey 2005, Yang et al 2006.…”

“…They are covered by the bulbospongiosus muscles, which extend from the perineal body, around the vagina and urethra, to the glans clitoris. The whole of the clitoris is composed of similar erectile tissue with the exception of the glans (Yang et al 2006) and is the homologue of the penis. …”