A role for peripheral 5-HT2 receptors in serotonin-induced facilitation of the expulsion phase of ejaculation in male rats.

Introduction: The urethrogenital reflex (UGR) is used as a physiological animal model of the autonomic and somatic activity that accompanies ejaculatory-like reflexes (ELRs). Serotonin (5-HT) plays an important role in regulating ejaculation.

Aim: To examine the effects of intraurethral 5-HT on ELRs and to examine the effects of various 5-HT receptor subtypes on the 5-HT-induced changes in the ELRs.

Characterization of bulbospongiosus muscle reflexes activated by urethral distension in male rats.

The urethrogenital reflex (UGR) is used as a surrogate model of the autonomic and somatic nerve and muscle activity that accompanies ejaculation. The UGR is evoked by distension of the urethra and activation of penile afferents. The current study compares two methods of elevating urethral intraluminal pressure in spinalized, anesthetized male Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 60).

Characterization of a spinal, urine storage reflex, inhibitory center and its regulation by 5-HT1A receptors in female cats.

Urine storage is facilitated by somatic (pudendal nerve) and sympathetic [hypogastric nerve (HgN)] reflexes to the urethral rhabdosphincter (URS) and urethral smooth muscle, respectively, initiated by primary afferent fibers in the pelvic nerve (PelN). Inhibition of storage reflexes is required for normal voiding. This study characterizes a urine storage reflex inhibitory network that can be activated by PelN afferent fibers concurrently with the reflexes themselves.

New pharmacological treatments for urinary incontinence and overactive bladder.

Lower urinary tract dysfunction encompasses a number of different pathologies, and affects the lives of millions of patients worldwide. Although several pharmaceutical companies have been involved in urological drug discovery over the last several years, therapeutic options remain limited. The mainstay of treatment for overactive bladder and urinary incontinence for several years has been antimuscarinic agents.

Inhibitors of gap junctions attenuate myogenic tone in cerebral arteries.

The effects of two structurally distinct inhibitors of gap junction communication were studied by using three different forms of vasoconstriction in pressurized rat middle cerebral arteries. The sensitivity of myogenic tone (at 60 mmHg), vasopressin-induced tone (10 nM, at 20 mmHg), and depolarizing solution-induced tone (80 mM K(+), at 20 mmHg) to inhibition by heptanol (1.0 microM to 3.