Modulation of Alpha 1 Adrenergic Receptors on Urinary Bladder in Rat Spinal Cord Injury Model

PURPOSE: Whereas many studies have focused on the vesical changes of the α1 adrenergic receptor (AR) subtypes in partial outlet obstruction, few studies have addressed the modulation of the α1 AR subtypes after spinal cord injury (SCI). Therefore, we studied the modulation of the α1 ARs in urinary bladder in a rat SCI model. METHODS: Four weeks after a SCI, the whole vesical bodies from eight female Sprague-Dawley rats and from eight controls were harvested. The total RNA was extracted from the samples and was used to prepare cDNA. We developed standard plasmid constructs of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and three α1 ARs (α1a, α1b, and α1d) to convert the cycle threshold (Ct) values from real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) into subtype mRNA concentrations. The detected Ct values of 16 samples from RT-PCR were interpolated into the standard plasmid curves. RESULTS: All serially diluted standard samples showed very good linearity. The mRNA expression of GAPDH was higher in the SCI group, whereas the mRNA expression of all α1 ARs was lower in the SCI group than in the control animals. The α1a, α1b, and α1d mRNA expression in the controls was 81.7%, 3.3%, and 15.1%, respectively, whereas the α1a, α1b, and α1d mRNA expression in the SCI group was 33.5%, 5.2%, and 60.9%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: SCI moderates the α1 AR mRNA subtypes in the urinary bladder. The relatively increased α1d or decreased α1a AR mRNA expression may be a therapeutic candidate for controlling the symptoms of neurogenic bladder after SCI.