Compliance of the obstructed fetal rabbit bladder.

We evaluated compliance in the developing bladder using a newly developed animal model of posterior urethral valves: partial infravesical obstruction in the fetal rabbit bladder. Partial bladder outlet obstruction was created in fetal rabbits at day 23 of a 31 to 32-day gestation period. An in vitro whole bladder preparation provided data on compliance and an isolated bladder strip preparation provided data on the mechanical properties of the bladder wall. In addition, the influence of calcium on both preparations was evaluated. Partial bladder outlet obstruction in the fetal rabbit resulted in a markedly larger bladder weight (246.4 +/- 22.3 mg, n = 14) than control bladders (90.2 +/- 5.7 mg, n = 13). Isolated smooth muscle strips from obstructed and normal bladders revealed identical stretch-stress patterns. In contrast, obstructed bladders had significantly increased compliance in the whole bladder preparation. Since the increase in compliance was not correlated to mechanical properties of the isolated bladder strips, it must therefore result from the pattern of mass increase of the whole bladder wall. During filling, both the control and obstructed bladders had the same slow, large amplitude spontaneous contractions. In addition, both had rapid contractions: those in the obstructed bladders had significantly lower frequency and higher amplitude than the ones in the control bladders. Removing the calcium from the organ bath eliminated the spontaneous contractions but did not change the baseline pressure or force values, indicating that the compliance of these fetal rabbit bladders is a function of the passive properties of the bladder wall. Three main patterns occur in cystometrograms of patients with posterior urethral valves: myogenic failure, hyperreflexic bladders, and low compliance bladders. Using our model of partial outlet obstruction in the fetal rabbit bladder, we could not imitate the group with low compliance. We therefore hypothesize that the different patterns of bladder dysfunction associated with posterior urethral valves are due to infravesical obstruction occurring with different severities or at different ages of gestation.