Does ultrastructural morphology of human detrusor smooth muscle cells characterize acute urinary retention?

Abstract

Acute urinary retention is relatively rare in otherwise healthy men. The condition may be attributable to a combination of obstruction and detrusor hypocontractility. We determined whether acute or chronic urinary retention is accompanied by characteristic ultrastructural features in bladder detrusor smooth muscle cells and whether any of these ultrastructural features may be useful for classifying these conditions. Bladder biopsies of 15 men, including 13 in acute and 2 in chronic urinary retention, and 6 controls were examined by transmission electron microscopy. They were semiquantitatively and morphometrically analyzed for degenerative changes, cellular hypertrophy, variations in intercellular distances, abnormal cell junctions and configurations, and intracellular changes. No significant ultrastructural features were noted in the detrusor muscle of patients in acute urinary retention compared with controls. We cannot confirm the reports of others that characteristic ultrastructural features in smooth muscle cells accompany bladder outlet obstruction and detrusor hypocontractility.