fNIRS-based study of prefrontal cortex activation during pelvic floor muscle contraction in women under different bladder states

Abstract

Objective To provide a neuroimaging basis for exploring the role of the prefrontal cortex in human urinary control function. Methods Hemodynamic data from the prefrontal cortex of the brain during the task of pelvic floor muscle contraction from 20 healthy female volunteers were collected using functional near-infrared spectroscopy （fNIRS） under two different states of bladder filling and emptying， and these data were processed accordingly to compare the differences in the activation state among different brain compartments of the prefrontal cortex by analyzing the Beta values corresponding to the relative amount of changes in the concentration of oxyhemoglobin extracted from each individual channel. Results A total of 30 channels were activated during bladder filling， whereas 8 channels were activated during bladder emptying （all P < 0.05）， including 7 co-activated channels. The prefrontal cortex activation was more significant during bladder filling than bladder emptying， and the activation was predominantly in the right prefrontal cortex， with the differences mainly in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and frontopolar cortex （all P < 0.05）. Conclusions The prefrontal cortex can be activated by pelvic floor muscle contraction. Under the state of bladder filling， the prefrontal cortex may perceive the pressure change of the bladder through neural reflex activity and thus participate in the regulation of the voluntary pelvic floor muscle contraction， plays a role in human urinary control function. The right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex region possibly plays a more significant role in this process.

Keywords

• functional near-infrared spectroscopy|prefrontal cortex|pelvic floor muscle contraction|bladder state|female