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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 99/1/244    most recent 01049.2007v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Xu, L. Articles by Gebhart, G. F. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Xu, L. Articles by Gebhart, G. F.

Characterization of Mouse Lumbar Splanchnic and Pelvic Nerve Urinary Bladder Mechanosensory Afferents

Department of Pharmacology, Carver College of Medicine, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa

Submitted 22 September 2007; accepted in final form 8 November 2007

Sensory information from the urinary bladder is conveyed via lumbar splanchnic (LSN) and sacral pelvic (PN) nerves to the spinal cord. In the present report we compared the mechanosensitive properties of single afferent fibers in these two pathways using an in vitro mouse bladder preparation. Mechanosensitive primary afferents were recorded from the LSN or PN and distinguished based on their response to receptive field stimulation with different mechanical stimuli: probing (160 mg to 2 g), stretch (1–25 g), and stroking of the urothelium (10–1,000 mg). Four different classes of afferent were recorded from the LSN and PN: serosal, muscular, muscular/urothielial, and urothelial. The LSN contained principally serosal and muscular afferents (97% of the total sample), whereas all four afferent classes of afferent were present in the PN (63% of which were muscular afferents). In addition, the respective proportions and receptive field distributions differed between the two pathways. Both low- and high-threshold stretch-sensitive muscular afferents were present in both pathways, and muscular afferents in the PN were shown to sensitize after exposure to an inflammatory soup cocktail. The LSN and PN pathways contain different populations of mechanosensitive afferents capable of detecting a range of mechanical stimuli and individually tuned to detect the type, magnitude, and duration of the stimulus. This knowledge broadens our understanding of the potential roles these two pathways play in conveying mechanical information from the bladder to the spinal cord.