Urinary bladder function and drug development.

Disorders of the bladder are extremely common and are becoming more so in an ageing population. Recently, our understanding of lower urinary tract physiology and pathology has also increased. Here, Douglas Ferguson and Nim Christopher summarize this new knowledge of lower urinary tract function, the changes in innervation that occur with age and the common disease states, and discuss how it is being used to develop new drug treatments for bladder disorders.