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The clitoris contains more than 10,000 nerve fibers, several hundred more than previously thought, according to new research that measured these nerves for the first time in the vaginal pleasure center. It is commonly understood that the clitoris has “8,000 nerve endings”. But researchers, including those from Oregon Health & Science University, say that figure comes from an outdated claim about genitalia in cows. “No study has yet quantified the number of nerve fibers (axons) innervating the human clitoris,” the scientists wrote in the yet-to-be-peer-reviewed research presented last week at a joint meeting of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America. . In the study, scientists looked at nerve fibers in the clitoris called dorsal nerves (DNC), which are a dense bundle of nerve fibers that transmit sensory signals from the genital organ to the brain. Reporting the number of these nerve endings “is an important step” in further understanding the organ’s sexual response, according to the scientists, who say the findings also have many implications for other areas of medical practice. A better understanding of the neural connections in the organ could also help restore the organ to function properly after injuries and cases of genital mutilation and gender-affirming genital surgery. “This knowledge will also be an important factor helping to optimize nerve selection and sensory outcomes in sex-affirming genital surgery,” the researchers added. In the study, scientists obtained DNC samples from seven transgender patients who underwent gender reassignment surgery after obtaining informed consent from them. The researchers then evaluated the microscopic structure of the spinal nerve at 1000x magnification and found the average number of nerve fibers to be over 5,000 using image analysis software. With two spinal nerves in each clitoris, researchers say more than 10,000 isolated nerve fibers exist in the genital organ. All of these nerve fibers are found in the clitoris – the visible part of the clitoris where the inner lips of the vulva meet. By comparison, the median nerve, which runs through the wrist and provides sensation to most of the hand, contains about 18,000 nerve fibers, study co-author Blair Peters told Live Science. “This study is the first to report the number of myelinated nerve fibers in the human dorsal clitoral nerve and approximates the number of nerve fibers innervating the human clitoris,” the scientists wrote in the study. “It is clear that far more than 8,000 fibers innervate the human clitoris,” they added.
