Katherine Gray's Project

A pharmacological Investigation of Neurotransmission in the Mouse prostate gland.

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a common condition in ageing men, is caused by an age dependant increase in the size and smooth muscle tone of the prostate gland. Because of the position of the prostate gland, surrounding the urethra, these changes physically compress the urethra causing troublesome lower urinary tract symptoms. Drugs which relax prostatic smooth muscle relieve these symptoms. Research on prostatic tissue taken from laboratory animals has been an invaluable source of potential theraputic targets for such drugs. However, research into neurotransmission in the prostate of the mouse has not yet been characterised. The increasing number of gene knockout mice becoming availible will enable investigation of the effects of contractility of specific physiological mechanisms. In order to determine whether these mechanisms may be potential drug targets, neurotransmission to the normal mouse prostate has to be fully characterised. This project will use histochemical techniques to further investigate which neurotransmitters and their receptors are present in the smooth muscle of the prostate galnd. Functional contractile isolated organ bath and electrophysiological studies will delineate their function. This type of research project will indicate whther it is possible to use the mouse prostate as a suitable model for human prostate function adn indicate which strains of gene knockout mice may be worthy of future study.