This monograph captures recent findings in urinary bladder research, especially with the use of computational models that shed light on the electrical and chemical behaviour of its musculature and associated nerves. Special attention is focused on the smooth muscle of the bladder, the detrusor, which presents several intriguing features of operation recently unraveled through experiment, signal analysis and computational simulations. Other cell types, such as afferent and efferent neurons, are also discussed in the context of coordinating bladder function. The organ’s physiology and pathophysiology are described hand-in-hand with computational models for them, such that links between the two domains are readily drawn. The content is presented so as to be accessible to a wide, non-specialist readership, while retaining technical details of interest to the specialist. This volume will be of interest to physiologists, urologists and mathematical and computational biologists alike, across various levels: researcher, teacher, student and the scientifically curious.

Computational Approaches in the Investigation of Urinary Bladder Function: Why, How and to What Ends / Challenges in Modelling the Neural Control of LUT / Modelling Sensory Neurons of the Urinary Bladder / A Novel, Enhanced Model for the Detrusor Syncytium: Incorporating Innervated Bundles / Analysis of Electrical Activity in Detrusor Smooth Muscle: Inferences on Syncytial Function / Biophysically Realistic Models of Detrusor Ion Channels: Role in Shaping Spikes and Excitability / Key Features of Calcium Dynamics in Detrusor Smooth Muscle: Computational Perspectives / Index / Contributors.

Researchers, Teachers, Students and Scientifically Curious