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First published online on August 17, 2006.
 Copyright © 2006 by The Physiological Society
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jphysiol.2006.116657v1
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Noel G McHale
Mark A Hollywood
Gerard P Sergeant
Keith D Thornbury
Mahmoud Shafei
Sean M Ward
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Received July 7, 2006
Revised August 10, 2006
Accepted after revision August 15, 2006

ORGANIZATION AND FUNCTION OF ICC IN THE URINARY TRACT

Noel G McHale1*, Mark A Hollywood1, Gerard P Sergeant1, Keith D Thornbury1, Mahmoud Shafei1, and Sean M Ward2

1 DKIT
2 University of Nevada Reno

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: noel.mchale{at}dkit.ie.

ICC are found in both the upper and lower urinary tract. They are not found in the ureter itself but are confined to the lamina propria of the renal pelvis and pelvi-calyceal junction. They do not appear to have a primary pacemaker role (this is ascribed to atypical smooth muscle cells in the same location) but rather conduct and amplify the pacemaker signals generated by the atypical smooth muscle cells. In the bladder, ICC are widely distributed in the sub-urothelial region, in the lamina propria and at the margins of the detrusor smooth muscle bundles. Again they appear not to have a pacemaking role but they may have a role in the modulation of signal transduction. The strongest evidence that ICC in the urinary tract act as pacemakers comes from studies of those in the urethra. Isolated ICC show regular spontaneous depolarisations in current clamp which resemble very closely the slow waves recorded from intact tissue. In voltage clamp they show abundant calcium-activated chloride current and spontaneous transient inward currents which can be blocked by chloride channel blockers. However their role in the modulation of urethral tone has yet to be fully elucidated.


Key words: Ureter • Urethra • Urinary bladder




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