Non-adrenergic non-cholinergic innervation of lower urinary tract after partial bladder outlet obstruction in guinea pig

Abstract

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is the commonest pathological conditionaffecting elderly males, but the underlying pathophysiological changes of BPH haveremained uncertain. Clinically, the use of either anti-cholinergic drugs or alpha-1receptor antagonists has not been very satisfactory in the treatment of lower urinarytract (LUT) symptoms associated with BPH; and this may be due to non-adrenergicnon-cholinergic (NANC) neural transmissions. The NANC innervation of LUT wasinvestigated before and after PBOO in guinea pig using immunohistochemistry,electron microscopy, real-time RT-PCR, Western blot, TUNEL, retrograde axonaltracing, ELISA and nitric oxide (NO) colorimetric assay. It has been shown that NOand some neuropeptides are involved in pathological changes of partial bladderoutlet obstruction (PBOO). By using L-arginine (NO donor) and L-NAME (NOSinhibitor), it is suggested that L-arginine can up-regulate the nNOS expression in theguinea pig bladder after PBOO, while L-NAME down-regulates it. This mayprovide basis for further investigations focusing on L-arginine/NO as a potentialdrug target for treatment of PBOO secondary to BPH.