Ontogeny of the rat bladder: smooth muscle and epithelial differentiation

The sequential expression of smooth muscle and epithelial markers in the rat bladder has been defined. Smooth muscle differentiation, based on cell morphology and immunohistochemical localization of smooth muscle alpha-actin, myosin, vinculin, desmin, vimentin and laminin, begins at 16 days of gestation (birth = 22 days) in the rat bladder. Smooth muscle cell differentiation begins in the periphery of the bladder mesenchyme immediately subadjacent to the serosa and continues toward the urothelium. The cytokeratins 5, 7, 8, 14, 18, and 19 are expressed in the bladder epithelium as a function of developmental age with cytokeratin 7, 8, 18, and 19 being coexpressed at 15 days' gestation followed by cytokeratin 5 at 17 days' gestation and cytokeratin 14 in the newborn bladder. An understanding of the ontogeny of both smooth muscle and epithelial differentiation markers in the normal bladder will allow us to study events that occur in the diseased bladder.