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Octodon degus, a new model to study the agonist and plexus-induced response in the urinary bladder

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Abstract

Urinary bladder function consists in the storage and controlled voiding of urine. Translational studies require animal models that match human characteristics, such as Octodon degus, a diurnal rodent. This study aims to characterize the contractility of the detrusor muscle and the morphology and code of the vesical plexus from O. degus. Body temperature was measured by an intra-abdominal sensor, the contractility of detrusor strips was evaluated by isometric tension recording, and the vesical plexus was studied by electrical field stimulation (EFS) and immunofluorescence. The animals showed a diurnal chronotype as judged from core temperature. The myogenic contractile response of the detrusor muscle to increasing doses of KCl reached its maximum (31.04 mN/mm2) at 60 mM. In the case of cumulative dose–response of bethanecol, the maximum response (37.42 mN/mm2) was reached at 3.2 × 10−4 M. The response to ATP was clearly smaller (3.8 mN/mm2). The pharmacological dissection of the EFS-induced contraction identified ACh and sensory fibers as the main contributors to this response. The neurons of the vesical plexus were located mainly in the trigone area, grouped in big and small ganglia. Out of them, 48.1 % of the neurons were nitrergic and 62.7 % cholinergic. Our results show functional and morphological similarities between the urinary bladder of O. degus and that of humans.

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Acknowledgments

The authors cordially thank the technician Fatima Barriga for their valuable assistance. This study was supported by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain (BFU2011-24365); Red Temática de Investigación en Envejecimiento y Fragilidad (RETICEF RD12/0043/0016, RD12/0043/0011; RD12/0043/0022); Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER); and Junta de Extremadura, Spain (GR10009).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, Faculty of Nursing and Occupational Therapy, University of Extremadura, 10003, Caceres, Spain

    Francisco Eduardo Martin-Cano, Mercedes Caso-Agundez, Cristina Camello-Almaraz, Pedro Javier Camello & Maria Jose Pozo

  2. Digestive Surgery Service, “San Pedro de Alcantara” Hospital, 10003, Cáceres, Spain

    Francisco Juan Santos

  3. Digestive Surgery Service, “Infanta Cristina” Hospital, 06006, Badajoz, Spain

    María Teresa Espin

  4. Chronobiology Laboratory, College of Biology, University of Murcia, IMIB-Arrixaca, 30100, Murcia, Spain

    Juan Antonio Madrid

  5. Musculoskeletal research group, Red Temática de Investigación Cooperativa en Envejecimiento y Fragilidad (RETICEF), ISCIII, IMIM (Hospital del Mar Research Institute), Barcelona, Spain

    Adolfo Diez-Perez

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  1. Francisco Eduardo Martin-Cano
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  2. Mercedes Caso-Agundez
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  3. Cristina Camello-Almaraz
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  4. Francisco Juan Santos
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  5. María Teresa Espin
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  8. Pedro Javier Camello
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  9. Maria Jose Pozo
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Correspondence to Maria Jose Pozo.

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All experimental protocols were approved by the ethics committee of the University of Extremadura, following the International Guiding Principles for Biomedical Research Involving Animals.

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Martin-Cano, F.E., Caso-Agundez, M., Camello-Almaraz, C. et al. Octodon degus, a new model to study the agonist and plexus-induced response in the urinary bladder. J Physiol Biochem 73, 77–87 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13105-016-0527-z

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