An adeno-associated viral labeling approach to visualize the meso- and microanatomy of mechanosensory afferents and autonomic innervation of the rat urinary bladder

NM Wiedmann; JP Fuller-Jackson; PB Osborne; JR Keast

Journal article

An adeno-associated viral labeling approach to visualize the meso- and microanatomy of mechanosensory afferents and autonomic innervation of the rat urinary bladder

NM Wiedmann, JP Fuller-Jackson, PB Osborne, JR Keast

FASEB Journal | WILEY | Published : 2024

DOI: 10.1096/fj.202301113R

Abstract

The urinary bladder is supplied by a rich network of sensory and autonomic axons, commonly visualized by immunolabeling for neural markers. This approach demonstrates overall network patterning but is less suited to understanding the structure of individual motor and sensory terminals within these complex plexuses. There is a further limitation visualizing the lightly myelinated (A-delta) class of sensory axons that provides the primary mechanosensory drive for initiation of voiding. Whereas most unmyelinated sensory axons can be revealed by immunolabeling for specific neuropeptides, to date no unique neural marker has been identified to immunohistochemically label myelinated visceral affere..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

John-Paul Fuller-Jackson Author

Peregrine Osborne Author

Janet Keast Author

Related Projects (1)

Understanding functional connectivity of sensory and motor pathways to specific regions of the lower urinary tract.

This foundational project will produce mesoscopic and microscopic functional anatomical maps of the sensory and autonomic (motor) neurons th..

Grants

Awarded by National Institutes of Health

Funding Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Office of the Director, Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions (SPARC) Program, National Institutes of Health under Award Number OT2OD023872 (to JK and PO). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. We acknowledge platform technologies at the University of Melbourne: the Biological Optical Microscopy Platform for providing training and access to confocal microscopes and the Melbourne Histology Platform for access to cryostats. We thank Dr. Viviana Gradinaru (California Institute of Technology) and her team for valuable discussions and advice at the commencement of this study and Dr. Ruslan Pustovit for training in the intravenous injection method. Open access publishing facilitated by The University of Melbourne, as part of the Wiley - The University of Melbourne agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians.