Detrusor Muscle Laboratory

Operating since 1992 the Pelvic Floor Unit and Detrusor Muscle Laboratory comprise the Department of Urogynaecology. We perform 480 urodynamic tests per year and conduct a variety of research projects.

Detrusor Muscle Laboratory is led by Professor Kate Moore, with close collaboration with the laboratories of: Professor Elizabeth Burcher (UNSW), Prof Russ Chess-Williams (Bond University) and Dr Kylie Mansfield (University of Wollongong).

Bladder overactivity occurs in 17% of the population; the incidence rises with increasing age. Patients suffer from debilitating symptoms of urgency (i.e. strong desire to urinate), frequency (urinating 8 or more times a day) to urge incontinence (i.e.uncontrollable urine leakage). Such bladder dysfunction impacts upon every facet of life - patients suffer social withdrawal and loss of productivity due to their condition. Current treatment are often ineffective and having limiting side effect such dry mouth; blurred vision and constipation. The lack of satisfactory treatment is due to inadequate understanding of the physiological mechanisms that govern bladder function.

We seek to understand the cause of urinary incontinence called detrusor overactivity, our major research interests are:

Clinical research

1. Mechanisms of ATP release: ATP is an important and ubiquitous signalling molecule for bladder function. Stretch is a major stimulus for ATP release in the bladder. Bladder stretch is mimicked by the Urodynamic test (a routine bladder function test) by injecting saline into a patient's bladder. Injected saline (bladder washing) is then collected for a simple ATP assay using a luminescence ATP Assay kit and a luminometer (Turner BioSystem).

2. Gene expression of vanilloid receptors (TRPV1), muscarinic receptors, tachykinin receptors (NK), ATP gated ion channels (P2x) in mucosa and muscle cells, to address whether the level of certain molecule(s) has been altered in detrusor overactivity patients.

3. Molecular mechanism: Stimuli such as stretch, receptor agonists and antagonists, can be applied on tissue or cell culture to identify whether the response has been altered in detrusor overactivity patients.

Basic research

1. Characterisation of bladder cells.

2. Basic physiology of different cell types in bladder.

Our department has very close ties with the Continence Foundation of Australia (CFA), which is aiming to foster the promotion of knowledge about incontinence in the community, to improve awareness of available treatments thereby increasing the likelihood that more patients will access these treatments; and to promote research into the causes of specific types of incontinence. Professor Moore serves on the editorial board of their journal and regularly speaks at their Annual Conference.

Our research is unique, we have devised a method of studying cellular aspects of detrusor control in samples from patients that are normally discarded. The results of this study will be very exciting to the medical and scientific community.