Spontaneous contractions are characteristic of the bladder wall, but their origins remain unclear.Activity is reduced if the mucosa is removed but does not disappear, suggesting that a fraction arises from the detrusor. We tested the hypothesis that spontaneous detrusor contractions arise from spontaneous ATP release. Guinea-pig detrusor strips, without mucosa, were superfused with Tyrode solution at 36 • C. Preparations were subjected to electrical field stimulation (EFS; 3 s trains at 90 s intervals) to produce nerve-mediated contractions, abolished by 1 µM TTX. Amperometric ATP electrodes on the preparation surface recorded any ATP released. Spontaneous contractions and ATP transients were recorded between EFS trains. Nerve-mediated contractions were attenuated by atropine and , -methylene ATP; in combination, they nearly abolished contractions, as did nifedipine. Contractions were accompanied by ATP transients that were unaffected by atropine but inhibited by TTX and greatly attenuated by nifedipine. Spontaneous contractions were accompanied by ATP transients, with a close correlation between the magnitudes of both transients. ATP and contractile transients persisted with TTX, atropine and nifedipine.Immediately after a nerve-mediated contraction and ATP transient, there was a longer interval than normal before spontaneous activity resumed. Spontaneous contractions and ATP transients are proposed to arise from ATP leakage from nerve terminals innervating the detrusor.Extracellular ATP has a greater functional significance in humans who suffer from detrusor overactivity (spontaneous bladder contractions associated with incontinence) owing to its reduced hydrolysis at the nerve-muscle interface. This study shows the origin of spontaneous activity that might be exploited to develop a therapeutic management of this condition. K E Y W O R D SATP, detrusor smooth muscle, spontaneous contractions
A shallow water theory is developed which applies to surface wave propagation over structured bathymetry comprising rapid abrupt fluctuations in depth between two smoothly varying levels. Using a homogenization approach coupled to the depth-averaging process which underpins shallow water modelling, governing equations for the wave elevation are derived which explicitly relate local spatially varying anisotropy of wave speeds to properties of the microstructured bed. The model is applied to two water wave scattering problems both to demonstrate the complex wave propagation characteristics exhibited by structured beds and to provide examples of how to use structured beds to engineer bespoke wave propagation. This includes propagating waves with practically zero reflection and loss of form through circular bends in channels.
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