Urothelium

BACKGROUND: Melanosis vesicae is a rare condition characterized by the deposition of melanin within the bladder urothelium. CASE PRESENTATION: We present a case of a 72-year-old male with a history of recurrent urinary retention, bladder diverticula, and concurrent Aerococcus urinary tract infection who presented with left-sided abdominal pain. Cystoscopy revealed diffuse black splotch lesions throughout the bladder and two diverticula. Histopathological examination confirmed the diagnosis of melanosis vesicae...

Uroplakins are a family of membrane-spanning proteins highly specific to the urothelium. There are four uroplakin proteins in humans. These are encoded by the following UPK genes: UPK1A , UPK1B , UPK2 and UPK3 Uroplakin proteins span the apical membrane of umbrella cells of the urothelium, where they associate into urothelial plaques. This provides a barrier function to prevent passage of urine across the urothelium in the renal pelvis, ureters, and bladder. Uroplakins are also involved in developmental processes such as nephrogenesis...

Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) greatly affects the daily life of numerous women and is closely related to a history of vaginal delivery and aging. We used vaginal balloon dilation to simulate vaginal birth injury in young and middle-aged rats to produce a SUI animal model, and found that young rats restored urethral structure and function well, but not the middle-aged rats. To identify the characteristics of cellular and molecular changes in the urethral microenvironment during the repair process of SUI...

Chronic bladder dysfunction due to bladder disease or trauma is detrimental to affected patients as it can lead to increased risk of upper urinary tract dysfunction. Current treatment options include surgical intervention that enlarge the bladder with autologous bowel tissue to alleviate pressure on the upper urinary tract. This highly invasive procedure, termed bladder augmentation enterocystoplasty (BAE), significantly increases risk of patient morbidity and mortality due to the incompatibility between the bowel and bladder tissue...

Cervical cerclage is a common procedure employed to prevent preterm birth in women with cervical insufficiency. Complications such as injuries to the cervix and bladder, and premature membrane rupture are well-documented, while genitourinary fistulas are a rare occurrence. This article reports a rare case of vesicovaginal fistula (VVF) formation in a 27-year-old woman following the placement of a McDonald cervical cerclage. The patient presented with continuous watery vaginal leakage, which began during the last 2 months of her pregnancy...

Previous data indicate a role of IL-1 and IL-1RA imbalance in bladder carcinoma (BC); the inhibition of IL-1 signaling might be considered a treatment option. Objective: To assess expression patterns and the prognostic role of IL-1β and IL-1RA in invasive BC and to evaluate their interaction with AKT signaling and proliferation. The study included two independent cohorts of n = 92 and n = 102 patients who underwent a radical cystectomy for BC. Specimen from BC and benign urothelium (n = 22 and n = 39) were processed to a tissue microarray and immunohistochemically stained for IL-1β, IL-1RA, AKT, and Ki-67...

Given the recent evidence in the clinical application of regenerative medicine, mostly on integumentary systems, we focused our interests on recent bladder regeneration approaches based on mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), platelet-rich plasma (PRP), and hyaluronic acid (HA) in the treatment of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) in humans. IC/BPS is a heterogeneous chronic disease with not-well-understood etiology, characterized by suprapubic pain related to bladder filling and urothelium dysfunction, in which the impairment of immunological processes seems to play an important role...

Sensory systems allow pathogens to differentiate between different niches and respond to stimuli within them. A major mechanism through which bacteria sense and respond to stimuli in their surroundings is two-component systems (TCSs). TCSs allow for the detection of multiple stimuli to lead to a highly controlled and rapid change in gene expression. Here, we provide a comprehensive list of TCSs important for the pathogenesis of uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC). UPEC accounts for >75% of urinary tract infections (UTIs) worldwide...

BACKGROUND: Phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome ten (PTEN) serves as a powerful tumor suppressor, and has been found to be downregulated in human bladder cancer (BC) tissues. Despite this observation, the mechanisms contributing to PTEN's downregulation have remained elusive. METHODS: We established targeted genes' knockdown or overexpressed cell lines to explore the mechanism how it drove the malignant transformation of urothelial cells or promoted anchorageindependent growth of human basal muscle invasive BC (BMIBC) cells...

Objects: This study investigated changes in upper urinary tract urodynamics (UUTU) after upper urinary tract dysfunction (UUTD). Methods: The UUTD model was induced through unilateral ureteral obstruction. To measure the renal pelvis volume, and resting pressure. Ureteral electromyography (EMG) and in situ ureteral constriction experiments were performed. Ureteral tissue was obtained for HE and masson staining, IF staining and IHC research to explore the distribution of Piezo1, and the expression of Piezo1 was studied using Western blotting...

The urothelium is the innermost layer of the bladder wall; it plays a pivotal role in bladder sensory transduction by responding to chemical and mechanical stimuli. The urothelium also acts as a physical barrier between urine and the outer layers of the bladder wall. There is intricate sensory communication between the layers of the bladder wall and the neurons that supply the bladder, which eventually translates into the regulation of mechanical activity. In response to natural stimuli, urothelial cells release substances such as ATP, nitric oxide (NO), substance P, acetylcholine (ACh), and adenosine...

PURPOSE: We aimed to assess the effectiveness of early single intravesical administration of epirubicin in preventing intravesical recurrence after radical nephroureterectomy for upper tract urothelial carcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma who underwent radical nephroureterectomy between November 2018 and May 2022 were retrospectively reviewed. Intravesical epirubicin was administered within 48 hours if no evidence of leakage was observed...

A healthy bladder requires the homeostatic maintenance of and rapid regeneration of urothelium upon stress/injury/infection. Several factors have been identified to play important roles in urothelial development, injury and disease response, however, little is known about urothelial regulation at homeostasis. Here, we identify a new role for IFRD1, a stress-induced gene that has recently been demonstrated to play a critical role in adult tissue proliferation and regeneration, in maintenance of urothelial function/ homeostasis in a mouse model...

Vesicovaginal fistula is a cause of deterioration in the quality of life. It is a communication between the bladder and vagina resulting in the uncontrollable leakage of urine through the vagina. Recently, regenerative methods have been used more frequently, and platelet-rich plasma is one of these methods. The functional properties of platelet-rich plasma are based on the synthesis and secretion of multiple growth factors released after platelet activation. The aim of this study was to investigate how platelet-rich plasma influences the condition of the tissue and the healing ability of the urothelium, vaginal epithelium and tissues surrounding the fistulous canal...

Urinary bladder cancer is the tenth most common cancer worldwide with high morbidity and mortality. The majority of bladder cancers are urothelial carcinomas. More than half are papillomas or the papillary urothelial carcinomas (stages Ta and T1), which have a relatively good prognosis. Squamous cell carcinomas have a variable survival rate, while carcinomas in situ (Tis) can progress to muscle-invasive urothelial carcinomas (T2) with a poor prognosis. The most challenging feature of bladder cancer is its high recurrence rate, ranging from 50% to 90% of cases...

The highly mutated nature of bladder cancers harboring mutations in chromatin regulatory genes opposing Polycomb-mediated repression highlights the importance of targeting EZH2 in bladder cancer. Furthermore, the critical role of the retinoic acid signaling pathway in the development and homeostasis of the urothelium, and the anti-oncogenic effects of retinoids are well established. Therefore, our aim is to simultaneously target EZH2 and retinoic acid signaling in bladder cancer to potentiate the therapeutic response...

BACKGROUND: Hemangioma of the urinary bladder is a rare benign tumor. Although benign, their presenting symptoms are alarming for both patients and doctors, and their rarity makes them challenging to correctly diagnosis and treat. This review paper summarizes current knowledge about hemangioma of the urinary bladder, treatment options, and follow-up modalities. SUMMARY: After the kidney, the bladder is the second most common location of hemangiomas in the urinary tract...

BACKGROUND: Cellular and cytoskeletal events of overactive bladder (OAB) have not been sufficiently explored in human bladder due to different limitations. Bladder outlet obstruction (BOO) had been induced in different animal models with different methods to induce (OAB). Similarity of the animal models of BOO to the human OAB is postulated but has not been confirmed. The interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs), and telocytes (TCs) are an important players in smooth muscles conductivity, they had not been well investigated in the previous BOO models...

Purinergic signaling plays an important role in regulating bladder contractility and voiding. Abnormal purinergic signaling is associated with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). Ecto-5'-nucleotidase (NT5E) catalyzes dephosphorylation of extracellular AMP to adenosine, which in turn promotes adenosine-A2b receptor signaling to relax bladder smooth muscle (BSM). The functional importance of this mechanism was investigated using Nt5e knockout (Nt5eKO) mice. Increased voiding frequency of small voids revealed by voiding spot assay was corroborated by urodynamic studies showing shortened voiding intervals and decreased bladder compliance...

Urinary bladder organogenesis requires coordinated cell growth, specification, and patterning of both mesenchymal and epithelial compartments. Tcf21, a gene that encodes a helix-loop-helix transcription factor, is specifically expressed in the mesenchyme of the bladder during development. Here we show that Tcf21 is required for normal development of the bladder. We found that the bladders of mice lacking Tcf21 were notably hypoplastic and that the Tcf21 mutant mesenchyme showed increased apoptosis. There was also a marked delay in the formation of visceral smooth muscle, accompanied by a defect in myocardin (Myocd) expression...