Central autonomic innervation of the urinary bladder - Tracer studies using pseudorabiesvirus

Purpose: The sacral centers and the peripher nerves of the lower urinary tr act are investigated previously. However, there is a lack of knowledge abou t higher centers of neural control and modulation. Pseudorabiesvirus (PRV) is a transneuronal, self amplifying, retrograde tracer which is specific fo r the autonomic nervous system. Therefore PRV allows an thorough neuroanato mical investigation of CNS centers involved in bladder function. Materials and Methods: 5 mu l PRV (1 x 10(8)pfu/ml) were injected in the bladder trig one of 21 Spargue-Dawley rats. The animals were lethally perfused after 72, 96 und 120 hours post PRV injection. The CNS was harvested via dorsal lami nectomy, cutted on a microtome and further processed for immunostaining. Re sults: PRV-positive cells were found in the lumbo-sacral (L6 - S2) and thor ako-lumbal (T12-L2) spinal cord (nucleus intermediolateralis, nucleus inter calatus spinalis, central autonomic nucleus). At the brain stem level sever al areas were PRV infected: nucleus periventricularis of the hypothalamus, periaquaductal gray, locus coeruleus, pontine micturition center, A5 noradr energic cell group, nucleus raphe pallidus et magnus. After 120 hours PRV p ositive regions in the cortex were seen. Conclusions: The central control a nd modulation of lower urinary tract function is realized by a network of d ifferent nuclei and regions within the brain and the spinal cord.