Urethra

Urethra
Urethra
	The urethra transports urine from the bladder to the outside of the body. This image shows (a) a human female urethra and (b) a human male urethra.
Details
Precursor	Urogenital sinus
Artery	Inferior vesical artery; Middle rectal artery; Internal pudendal artery
Vein	Inferior vesical vein; Middle rectal vein; Internal pudendal vein
Nerve	Pudendal nerve; Pelvic splanchnic nerves; Inferior hypogastric plexus
Lymph	Internal iliac lymph nodes; Deep inguinal lymph nodes
Identifiers
Latin	urethra feminina (female); urethra masculina (male)
Greek	οὐρήθρα
MeSH	D014521
TA98	A08.4.01.001F; A08.5.01.001M
TA2	3426, 3442
FMA	19667
	Anatomical terminology

The urethra (pl.: urethras or urethrae) is a tube that connects the mammalian urinary bladder to the urinary meatus in the glans penis or vulval vestibule. Male and female placental mammals release urine through the urethra during urination, but males also release semen through the urethra during ejaculation.^[1]

The external urethral sphincter is a striated muscle that allows voluntary control over urination.^[2] The internal sphincter, formed by the involuntary smooth muscles lining the bladder neck and urethra, receives its nerve supply by the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system.^[3] The internal sphincter is present both in males and females.^[4]^[5]^[6]

^ Marvalee H. Wake (15 September 1992). Hyman's Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy. University of Chicago Press. pp. 583–. ISBN 978-0-226-87013-7. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
^ Legato, Marianne J.; Bilezikian, John P., eds. (2004). "109: The Evaluation and Treatment of Urinary Incontinence". Principles of Gender-specific Medicine. Vol. 1. Gulf Professional Publishing. p. 1187.
^ Chancellor, Michael B; Yoshimura, Naoki (2004). "Neurophysiology of Stress Urinary Incontinence". Reviews in Urology. 6 (Suppl 3): S19–S28. PMC 1472861. PMID 16985861.
^ Jung, Junyang; Anh, Hyo Kwang; Huh, Youngbuhm (September 2012). "Clinical and Functional Anatomy of the Urethral Sphincter". International Neurourology Journal. 16 (3): 102–106. doi:10.5213/inj.2012.16.3.102. PMC 3469827. PMID 23094214.
^ Karam, I.; Moudouni, S.; Droupy, S.; Abd-Almasad, I.; Uhl, J. F.; Delmas, V. (April 2005). "The structure and innervation of the male urethra: histological and immunohistochemical studies with three-dimensional reconstruction". Journal of Anatomy. 206 (4): 395–403. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7580.2005.00402.x. PMC 1571491. PMID 15817107.
^ Ashton-Miller, J. A.; DeLancey, J. O. (April 2007). "Functional anatomy of the female pelvic floor". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1101 (1): 266–296. Bibcode:2007NYASA1101..266A. doi:10.1196/annals.1389.034. hdl:2027.42/72597. PMID 17416924. S2CID 6310287. Archived from the original on Aug 22, 2023 – via Deep Blue Documents.