What is it about?
Rats under urethane anaesthesia cycle between different sleep-like brain states. We showed differences in the way the bladder fills and empties depending on brain sleep state. This correlated with changes in the excitability of neurones in the region of the midbrain that controls micturition (urinary voiding).
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Why is it important?
Understanding how the brain's micturition control circuitry changes during sleep states could inform us about underlying causes of nocturia (frequency need to void during the night) or nocturnal enuresis (bedwetting). Although commonly recognised in children, these conditions afflict adults as well and are under-reported in adults
Perspectives
voiding does not normally occur during sleep. Although this is due in part to a decrease in urine production during sleep the current findings suggest that 'resetting' of the midbrain's micturition control circuit may 'be another contributory factor.
Dr Thelma A Lovick
University of Bristol
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Urodynamic function during sleep-like brain states in urethane anesthetized rats, Neuroscience, January 2016, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2015.11.027.
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