Question

Emptying of the bladder may be less effective if 

A. The sympathetic nerves carrying afferent information from bladder to spinal cord are cut. 

B. The pelvic nerves are cut. 

C. Anticholinergic drugs are administered. 

D. Alpha-adrenergic receptor antagonists are administered. 

E. Beta-adrenergic receptor agonists are administered.

Answer 1

A. False Sympathetic trunks carry pain afferents, not stretch receptor afferents to the cord. 

B. True These carry the stretch receptor afferents from the bladder and parasympathetic motor fibres to the bladder; the micturition reflex is lost. 

C. True These block the parasympathetic motor fibres to the detrusor muscle. 

D. False Alpha receptor antagonists relax bladder sphincter muscle: they are used to facilitate bladder emptying in patients with benign prostatic hypertrophy. 

E. True They tend to relax the detrusor muscle.