Spontaneous Contractions Augmented by Cholinergic and Adrenergic Systems in the Human Ureter

Hyun Woo Lee; Cheol Hee Baak; Moo Yeol Lee; Young Chul Kim

doi:10.4196/kjpp.2011.15.1.37

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Lee, Baak, Lee, and Kim: Spontaneous Contractions Augmented by Cholinergic and Adrenergic Systems in the Human Ureter

Original Article

Korean J Physiol Pharmacol 2011;15(1):37-41.

Published online: 18 February 2011

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4196/kjpp.2011.15.1.37

Spontaneous Contractions Augmented by Cholinergic and Adrenergic Systems in the Human Ureter

Hyun Woo Lee^1,^∗, Cheol Hee Baak^2,^∗, Moo Yeol Lee^2,, Young Chul Kim³

¹Department of Life and Leisure Sport/Sport Industry, College of Sports Science, Seoul 156-756, Korea

²Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 156-756, Korea

³Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 361-804, Korea

Corresponding to: Moo Yeol Lee, Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Chung-Ang University, 221, Huksuk-dong, Dongjak-gu, Seoul 156-756, Korea. (Tel) 82-2-820-5687, (Fax) 82-2-817-7115, (E-mail) heeyun@cau.ac.kr

^∗ These authors contributed equally to this work.

Received 25 January 2011 Revised 10 February 2011 Accepted 14 February 2011

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) evoke pacemaker activities in many tissues. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between interstitial cell and pacemaker activity in the human ureter through the recording of spontaneous contractions. Spontaneous contractions of eight circular and longitudinal smooth muscle strips of the human ureter to acetylcholine (ACh) and/or norepinephrine (NE) were observed. Human ureteral strips were divided into proximal and distal groups, and each group was subdivided into circular and longitudinal groups. The proximal group showed spontaneous activities of 3∼4 times within 5 minutes in the longitudinal group. ACh (10^–4 M) augmented the frequency of the spontaneous contractions. The cumulative application of NE also augmented the frequency in a dose-dependent manner. The effects of NE application were inhibited by concomitant application of 10^–5 M glibenclamide. Receptor tyrosine kinase (c-kit) staining revealed abundant ICCs only in proximal tissues. Therefore, spontaneous contractions of the human ureter might be modulated by ICC in the proximal region, and the actions might be related with the activation of cholinergic and/or adrenergic system mediated by a glibenclamide-sensitive pathway.

Keywords: Interstitial cell of Cajal, Pacemaker activity, Spontaneous contraction, Human ureter

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Fig. 1.

(A) Typical tracing of spontaneous contractions of longitudinal strip (PG-LG) of human ureter to ACh (10^–9∼10^–4 M). (B) 10^–4 M ACh application slightly, but significantly increased frequency of the responses (n=12, ^∗Means p<0.05).

Fig. 2.

Accumulative application of NE significantly increased the frequency of responses dose-dependently recorded in longitudinal strip (PG-LG) of human ureter (n=12, ^∗Means p<0.05).

Fig. 3.

NE (10^–4 M) application also significantly increased frequency of the responses recorded in circular strips (PG-CG) of human ureter (n=9, ^∗Means p<0.05).

Fig. 4.

Effects of 10^–5 M glibenclamide-pretreatment on the NE-induced responses of spontaneous contractions of the strips of longitudinal (PG-LG) (A, n=12) and circular (PG-CG) (B, n=12) muscle.

Fig. 5.

(A) Immunohistochemistry of c-kit positive ICCs (red colored cells) in muscular wall of proximal ureter. (B) In distal ureter we could not find the positive cell. Monoclonal anti-CD117 antibody staining, reduced from ×200.

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