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Retired NBME 21 Answers

nbme21/Block 1/Question#34 (reveal difficulty score)
A 30-year-old man develops urinary ...
Pelvic nerves ๐Ÿ” / ๐Ÿ“บ / ๐ŸŒณ / ๐Ÿ“–
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submitted by โˆ—hungrybox(1277)
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hyoscyamine posted this great pic below

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eacv  here is a video for ilustration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US0vNoxsW-k +2

Based off this pic:

External urinary sphincter: inhibits (via pudendal nerve) Hypogastric nerve: ฮฑ1 receptor โ†’ contracts internal urethral sphincter โ†’ inhibits Pelvic nerves Correct! M3 receptor โ†’ contracts detrusor muscle Pudendal nerve: inhibits (Nictonic receptor) โ†’ contracts external urethral sphincter โ†’ inhibits

+2/- hungrybox(1277)

External urinary sphincter inhibits (via pudendal nerve)

Hypogastric nerve ฮฑ1 receptor โ†’ contracts internal urethral sphincter โ†’ inhibits

Pelvic nerves Correct! M3 receptor โ†’ contracts detrusor muscle

Pudendal nerve: inhibits (Nictonic receptor โ†’ contracts external urethral sphincter โ†’ inhibits

+/- hungrybox(1277)

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submitted by โˆ—peridot(115)
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Here is my summary of the picture/video that was posted:

There are 3 pathways involved in peeing:

  1. Pelvic n. (aka pelvic splanchnic n.) sends parasympathetic fibers to deltrusor to contract --> squeeze bladder and pee.

  2. Hypogastric n. sends sympathetic fibers to the deltrusor to relax, as well as the internal sphincter to contract --> hold back pee

  3. Pudendal n. sends somatic fibers (under conscious control) to the external sphincter to contract --> hold back pee

In this question, the patient's bladder is filling up so much that it's forced to overflow. That means there is a problem with scenario 1 - damage to pelvic n. so that he can't squeeze his bladder even when it's super full.

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peridot  To clarify, this description is meant to go along with @hungrybox's pic link and @eacv's video link +4
lovebug  thanks a lot! +


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submitted by โˆ—neonem(629)
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The sacral micturition center is 1 of 3 components of micturition reflex (other 2 are from pontine reticular formation and cerebral cortex). Sacral mict center = S2-S4 spinal cord level traveling from ventral white matter in the Pelvic nerves, responsible for bladder contraction via the cholinergic nerves (think it acts on the M3 receptor in the bladder detrusor?). If you lose these nerves (i.e. in pelvic fracture), will result in overflow incontinence.

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submitted by โˆ—meryen13(48)
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pelvic nerve--> increases voiding urine, m3 receptor, parasympathetic hypogastric nerve--> increases urinary retention, sympathetic, beta 3 and alpha1 receptors. pudendal nerve--> not part of micturition, its a somatic component and has a nicotinic receptor.

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huszagmc  Elaborating with a bit more detail: The bladder receives input from both the autonomic (sympathetic and parasympathetic) and somatic arms of the nervous system. Sympathetic โ€“ hypogastric nerve (T12 โ€“ L2). It causes relaxation of the detrusor muscle, promoting urine retention. Parasympathetic โ€“ pelvic nerve (S2-S4). Increased signals from this nerve cause contraction of the detrusor muscle, stimulating micturition. Somatic โ€“ pudendal nerve (S2-4). It innervates the external urethral sphincter, providing voluntary control over micturition. In this question, the man has a distended bladder, which I interpreted as "he can't urinate spontaneously" (otherwise he probably wouldn't let his bladder get so full...) -โ†’ seems like he has difficulty contracting the detrusor muscle to initiate micturition -โ†’ issue with pelvic nerves. +1


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submitted by โˆ—yo(89)
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surprisingly good explanation and picture found on this site. something along the lines of micturination reflex (aka bladder is full and you piss reflex) is gone so the afferent fibers carrying the signal that the bladder is full aren't working. those fibers are carried in the pelvic nerves

ttps://www.toppr.com/guides/biology/excretory-products/micturition/

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yo  if still confused, a better explanation can be found here https://courses.washington.edu/conj/bess/urination/urination.html +24
hyoscyamine  i found this image to be helpful in remembering which nerves do what on which receptor. https://i.ytimg.com/vi/JwaeWXhklio/maxresdefault.jpg +7


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submitted by โˆ—bbr(58)
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I'm still confused, where is this guys problem occuring? Is that he is unable to urinate, or that he has overflow incontinence? Getting lost in these nerves.

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