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Erectile tissue is tissue in the body with numerous vascular spaces, or cavernous tissue, that may become engorged with blood. [1] [2] However, tissue that is devoid of or otherwise lacking erectile tissue (such as the labia minora, vestibule, vagina and urethra) may also be described as engorging with blood, often with regard to sexual arousal.
They continue into the dorsal aspect of the shaft forming the two corpora cavernosa that are separated by the septum of the penis. [5] During arousal, the root and the corpora cavernosa engorge with blood and become rigid . Meanwhile, the corpus spongiosum remains pliable making the urethra a viable channel for semen during ejaculation. [6]
A corpus cavernosum penis (singular) (from Latin, characterised by "cavities/ hollows" [2] of the penis, pl.: corpora cavernosa) is one of a pair of sponge-like regions of erectile tissue, which contain most of the blood in the penis of several animals during an erection.
At the root of the penis (the proximal end of the corpus spongiosum) lies the external sphincter muscle. This is a small sphincter of striated muscle tissue and is in healthy males, under voluntary control. Relaxing the urethral sphincter allows the urine in the upper urethra to enter the penis properly and thus empty the urinary bladder.
The function of the corpus spongiosum in erection is to prevent the urethra from pinching closed, thereby maintaining the urethra as a viable channel for ejaculation. To do this, the corpus spongiosum remains pliable during erection while the corpora cavernosa penis become engorged with blood.
The deep dorsal vein of the penis, the cavernosal veins of the penis, and the para-arterial veins of the penis are inside Buck's fascia, but the superficial dorsal veins of the penis are in the superficial fascia immediately under the skin.
Each crus represents the tapering, posterior fourth of each corpora cavernosa penis; the two corpora cavernosa are situated alongside each other along the length of the body of penis while the two crura diverge laterally in the root of penis before attaching firmly onto either ischial ramus at their proximal end. [citation needed]
It is made up of the two corpora cavernosa and the corpus spongiosum on the underside. The corpora cavernosa are intimately bound to one another with a dorsally fenestrated septum, which becomes a complete one before the penile crura. [3] The body of the penis is homologous to the female clitoral body. [4] [5] [6]