Computational Study of Action Potential Generation in Urethral Smooth Muscle Cell

摘要

Stress urinary incontinence is defined by the involuntary loss of urine during the sneezing and coughing. The urethral smooth muscle cell contributes to stress urinary incontinence by generating spontaneous mechanical and electrical activities. It generates spontaneous electrical events in the terms of membrane depolarization and action potentials. Therefore, a complete understanding of the urethral smooth muscle cell's spontaneous action potential biophysics will help in identifying novel pharmacological targets for the stress urinary incontinence. The action potential is evoked by the activation of various ion channels across the cell membrane. This study aims in establishing a computational model of the single urethral smooth muscle cell to simulate the action potential after incorporating all-important ion channels. The ion channels are designed with Hodgkin- Huxley formalism, where the internal kinetics are expressed in terms of the ordinary differential equations. This computational model generates experimental spontaneous action potential and the underlying ionic currents in urethral smooth muscle cell successfully. In summary, this mathematical model contributes an elemental tool to investigate the physiological ionic mechanisms underlying the spikes in the urethral smooth muscle cell, which in turn can shed light on the genesis of stress urinary incontinence.