Receptor activated bladder and spinal ATP release in neurally intact and chronic spinal cord injured rats.

Abstract Neurally intact (NI) rats and chronic spinal cord injured (SCI) rats were studied to determine how activation of mechanosensory or cholinergic receptors in the bladder urothelium evokes ATP release from afferent terminals in the bladder as well as in the spinal cord. Spinal cord transection was performed at the T 9 –T 10 level 2–3 weeks prior to the experiment and a microdialysis fiber was inserted in the L 6 –S 1 lumbosacral spinal cord one day before the experiments. Mechanically evoked (i.e. 10 cm/W bladder pressure) ATP release into the bladder lumen was approximately 6.5-fold higher in SCI compared to NI rats ( p p p p