A journey through two lumens

This account describes studies from the Institute of Medical Physiology in the University of Copenhagen, starting in the mid 1970's, which included some of the earliest European laboratory investigations on human female genital function. The measurements involved vaginal pH, pO2, blood flow, motility, fluid and its ionic concentrations, amino-acid concentrations and electrical activity (transvaginal potential difference) usually in both the basal and sexual aroused states. The blood flow monitoring pioneered the use of the heated oxygen electrode. Other studies examined the effects of arousal to orgasm on cervical secretion, on the heart rate as an objective indicator of orgasmic excitement and investigated the actions of TRH and the cholinergic antagonist atropine on a number of vaginal parameters. The work was part of the scientific watershed that divided the previous descriptive era of human genital mechanisms from the now prevalent quantitative assessments.