Pa. Longhurst et al., INFLUENCE OF STRIP SIZE AND LOCATION ON CONTRACTILE RESPONSES OF RAT URINARY-BLADDER BODY STRIPS, General pharmacology, 26(7), 1995, pp. 1519-1527
1. We investigated the influence of strip length and dorsal or ventral
location of rat urinary bladder strips on contractile responsiveness.
2. No differences occurred in the contractile responses of 0.5, 1.0 a
nd 2.0 cm strips to field stimulation, carbachol, ATP, substance P or
to KCI when the data were expressed as either absolute tension or as t
ension per cross-sectional area. However, correction for strip mass re
sulted in significant decreases in the contractile responses of the 2.
0-cm strips compared with the 0.5-cm strips. 3. No differences occurre
d in length-tension curves for ventral and dorsal bladder strips, even
though the strips from the dorsal surface appeared thinner than those
from the ventral surface. 4. Strips from the ventral surface exhibite
d more variability in response to field stimulation and were less sens
itive to atropine pre-treatment than were those from the dorsal surfac
e. They were also less sensitive to the contractile effects of carbach
ol than dorsal strips. Dorsal and ventral strips were equally responsi
ve to ATP, substance P and KCI. 5. Our data indicate that the contract
ile responsiveness of rat urinary bladder strips is independent of str
ip length. Although there are some differences between the cholinergic
responsiveness of strips from the ventral and dorsal surfaces of the
bladder, the differences are so small that for most studies they will
probably have no influence on data interpretation.