Quick Facts
Sympathetic Contribution: Lumbar splanchnic nerves via the uterovaginal plexus.
Parasympathetic Contribution: Pelvic splanchnic nerves via the uterovaginal plexus.
Course: The vaginal nerves are those axons of the uterovaginal plexus that pass inferiorly with the vaginal artery.
Sympathetic Supply: The sympathetic and parasympathetic fibers share territories of the female pelvis and perineum, including the superior portion of the vagina, erectile tissue bodies of the vestibule of vagina and clitoris, vestibular glands, and urethra.
Parasympathetic Supply: The sympathetic and parasympathetic fibers share territories of the female pelvis and perineum, including the superior portion of the vagina, erectile tissue bodies of the vestibule of vagina and clitoris, vestibular glands, and urethra.
Contributing Nerves
Mixed sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves emerge from the inferior hypogastric plexus and pass into the uterovaginal plexus, disperse and encircle the uterovaginal junction. From here, a subset of axons turns inferior and descends as the vaginal nerves.
Course
The vaginal nerves arise from the uterovaginal plexus encircling the distal part of the uterus. They descend along the lateral sides of the superior portion of the vagina, following the vaginal artery, and pass from the pelvis into the perineum.
Branches
The cavernous nerves of the clitoris are regarded as branches of the vaginal nerves or the uterovaginal plexus.
Supplied Structures
From superior to inferior, as the vaginal nerves descend, they supply the superior portion of the vagina, urethra, erectile tissue bodies of the bulb of the vestibule of the vagina, vestibular glands, and corpora cavernosa of the clitoris.
