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Updated: May 2, 2026
Bladder Smooth Muscle Strip Contractility as a Method to Evaluate Lower Urinary Tract Pharmacology
Published on: August 18, 2014
Chronic ketamine treatment-induced changes in contractility characteristics of the mouse detrusor
Hong Chai Tang1, Wai Ping Lam, Xin Zhang
1Institute of Chinese Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, E204 Science Centre East Block, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong.
Purpose:
To understand bladder contractility changes induced by chronic ketamine treatment, noting the prevalence of its abuse worldwide.
Methods:
A mouse model of chronic ketamine treatment was used and detrusor strip contractility was measured. Rising and falling phases of contractile responses as well as maximal, average sustained and phasic contractions were measured.
Results:
While maximal contractility of ketamine-treated strips was identical to the saline controls, the former displayed slower contraction rates under K(+)-Krebs, carbachol and electrical stimulation. The decay phase of electrically stimulated responses was also slower at most stimulation frequencies in the ketamine-treated strips. Greater sensitivity to varying the strengths of stimuli was observed in the ketamine-treated strips.
Conclusions:
Altered contractility characteristics of the bladder after chronic ketamine treatment were revealed, which could potentially be useful in the development of improved treatment regimens.
