DOI: 10.5061/dryad.z612jm6hb
title: Piezo2 and perineal mechanosensation are essential for sexual function

description: Despite the potential importance of genital mechanosensation for sexual
 reproduction little is known about how perineal touch influences mating.
 Here we explored how mechanosensation affords exquisite awareness of the
 genitals and controls reproduction in mice and humans. Using genetic
 strategies and in vivo functional imaging, we demonstrated that the
 mechanosensitive ion channel Piezo2 is necessary for behavioral
 sensitivity to perineal touch. Notably, Piezo2-function is needed for
 triggering a touch-evoked erection reflex and successful mating in both
 male and female mice. Humans with complete loss of PIEZO2 function have
 genital hyposensitivity and experience no direct pleasure from gentle
 touch or vibration. Together, our results explain how perineal
 mechanoreceptors detect the gentlest of stimuli and trigger
 physiologically important sexual responses, providing a platform for
 exploring the sensory basis of sexual pleasure and its relationship to
 affective touch.
description: IVcalcium-final.csv: GCamp calcium imaging data. Each line
 corresponds to a cell/ROI, columns identify sex, genotype, recording date,
 ROI name and stimulation area. The remaining numbered columns are the
 concatenated calcium traces imaged at 5Hz for 200 frames per stimulus.
 Stimuli are (in order) air puff, brush, pinch, vibration, Von Frey 1.4g,
 Von Frey 1.0g, Von Frey 0.6g, Von Frey 0.4g, Von Frey 0.16g, Von Frey
 0.07g, Von Frey 0.04g,  Von Frey 0.02g, Von Frey 0.008g 
 Scn10aCreGCamp-traces.csv: Calcium imaging data from
 Scn10a-Cre/GCamp mice. Each line corresponds to a cell/ROI, columns are
 the concatenated calcium traces imaged at 5Hz for 200 frames per stimulus.
 Stimuli are (in order) air puff, brush, pinch, vibration, Von Frey 1.4g,
 Von Frey 1.0g, Von Frey 0.6g, Von Frey 0.4g, Von Frey 0.16g, Von Frey
 0.07g, Von Frey 0.04g,  Von Frey 0.02g, Von Frey 0.008g 
 Ethogram_data.csv: Behavioral data of mating mice manually scored
 in BORIS software. Each line specifies an event. Experiment column
 specifies the genotype or experimental condition of the animals. The mouse
 column provides an id for the individual experiment. Behavior is either
 groom, mount or sniff/pursuit. All behaviors have a start timestamp
 (seconds), sniff/pursuit also has a stop timestamp and duration
 (seconds). wt_SDimages-20201230.tif: Stack of standard
 deviation images from a GCamp mouse corresponding to the stimuli air puff,
 brush, pinch, vibration, Von Frey 1.4g, Von Frey 1.0g, Von Frey 0.6g, Von
 Frey 0.4g, Von Frey 0.16g, Von Frey 0.07g, Von Frey 0.04g,  Von Frey
 0.02g, Von Frey 0.008g. Standard deviation over time for each pixel was
 calculated in ImageJ. Stack can be opened in ImageJ.
 wtROIs-20201230.zip: ROI file for wt_SDimages-20201230.tif; can
 be imported into ImageJ Piezo2ko_SDimages-20201127.tif:
 Stack of standard deviation images from a Piezo2 knockout/GCamp mouse
 corresponding to the stimuli air puff, brush, pinch, vibration, Von Frey
 1.4g, Von Frey 1.0g, Von Frey 0.6g, Von Frey 0.4g, Von Frey 0.16g, Von
 Frey 0.07g, Von Frey 0.04g,  Von Frey 0.02g, Von Frey 0.008g. Standard
 deviation over time for each pixel was calculated in ImageJ. Stack can be
 opened in ImageJ. Piezo2koROIs-20201127.zip: ROI file
 for Piezo2ko_SDimages-20201127.tif; can be imported into ImageJ
 testicle_weight_ratio.csv: testicle weight divided by body weight
 for wildtype and conditional Piezo2 ko mice
 copulation_plugs.csv: number of matings that resulted in
 copulation plugs<br>after 4 hours for various genotypes
 estrus_cycles.csv: number of estrus cycles tracked in 25
 days  FSH_levels.csv: Follicle Stimulating Hormone
 levels (ng/ml) in wt and conditional Piezo2 ko mice
 litters.csv: number of litters per breeding pair in 6 months for
 various genotypes penile_protrusion.csv: percentage of
 trials (out of 20) evoking responses in penile protrusion test for
 individual males of various genotypes/experimental conditions
 pinprick_test.csv: percent of trials evoking withdrawal response
 in pinprick test for various genotypes/sex/experimental
 conditions testosterone_levels.csv: testosterone levels
 (in ng/dl) for wildtype and ko mice
 von_Frey_thresholds.csv: minimum von Frey filament strength
 evoking 50% withdrawal for various genotypes/sex/experimental
 conditions von_Frey_responses.csv: each column
 corresponds to a mouse. Values are percentage of withdrawals (out of 10
 trials) for each filament strength.