# Impacts of Spinal Cord Injury on Autonomic Neurons Responsible for Bladder Function

> **NIH NIH F32** · UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA · 2020 · $69,306

## Abstract

Abstract
The circuit that controls the micturition reflex is composed of autonomic neurons that control smooth bladder
muscle (Detrusor) and somatic (voluntary) neurons that control the skeletal muscle of the external urethral
sphincter (EUS). After SCI, the coordination between these muscles is lost and they contract spontaneously.
While something is known about how SCI alters the excitability of neuronal pathways that feed into the spinal
cord (afferents) and how SCI alters the excitability of these muscles, relatively little is known how excitability
of the neurons (autonomic bladder-innervating neurons) contained in a collection of neurons called the major
pelvic ganglia (MPG) is altered. The primary aim of this proposal is to characterize how the excitability of
these neurons changes after acute (3 days post injury) and chronic (28 days post injury) SCI. Mouse models of
SCI will be used to determine how injury alters the ability of neurons to fire based on their intrinsic properties
(as opposed to their input from other neurons). Underlying mechanisms for altered output will be investigated
using voltage clamp and pharmacological dissection of ionic currents to measure changes in underlying
membrane conductance. To determine whether underlying changes in membrane conductance are the result of
alterations in channel expression, single-cell quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) will be used to measure
transcript numbers from MPG neurons in injured and intact animals. The proposed work will greatly improve
the basic understanding of bladder reflex circuitry by providing a much needed extension of the
characterization of the physiological properties and underlying ionic mechanisms of MPG neuron function. In
addition, these studies represent one of the first analyses of plasticity at the MPG as a result of SCI, with
implications for the successful comprehensive treatment of neurogenic bladder dysfunction.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9926077
- **Project number:** 5F32DK116608-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Michael Leslie Gray
- **Activity code:** F32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $69,306
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-02-01 → 2021-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9926077

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9926077, Impacts of Spinal Cord Injury on Autonomic Neurons Responsible for Bladder Function (5F32DK116608-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9926077. Licensed CC0.

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