Chronic stable recording of physiologically evoked neural activity in a mixed autonomic nerve in awake, freely moving normal and experimental cystitis rats.

Abstract

Closed-loop control over bladder function, for conditions such as neurogenic bladder dysfunction, requires real-time monitoring of bladder state. Here, we assessed the ability of a novel recording and analysis technique to extract neural activity from awake rats as a quasi-real-time feedback biomarker of bladder fullness in normal and chronic cystitis models. Adult male rats (n = 12) were implanted with a four-electrode planar array and the bladder instrumented for continuous-flow cystometry over 2 weeks. In three rats, bladder inflammation was induced using cyclophosphamide (CYP, 75-100 mg/kg, i.p.). Neural recordings were made during awake cystometry, and extracted Aδ afferent activity was..