What are the barriers and how do we manage them? A review of progress over the last 10 years

Female urinary incontinence and sexuality

Urinary incontinence is a common problem among women and it is estimated that between 15 and 55% of them complain of lower urinary symptoms. The most prevalent form of urinary incontinence is associated with stress, followed by mixed urinary incontinence and urge urinary incontinence. It is a symptom with several effects on quality of life of women mainly in their social, familiar and sexual domains. Female reproductive and urinary systems share anatomical structures, which promotes that urinary problems interfere with sexual function in females. This article is a review of both the concepts of female urinary incontinence and its impact on global and sexual quality of life. Nowadays, it is assumed that urinary incontinence, especially urge urinary incontinence, promotes anxiety and several self-esteem damages in women. The odour and the fear of incontinence during sexual intercourse affect female sexual function and this is related with the unpredictability and the chronicity of incontinence, namely urge urinary incontinence. Female urinary incontinence management involves conservative (pelvic floor muscle training), surgical and pharmacological treatment. Both conservative and surgical treatments have been studied about its benefit in urinary incontinence and also the impact among female sexual function. Unfortunately, there are sparse articles that evaluate the benefits of female sexual function with drug management of incontinence.

Central role of the BK channel in urinary bladder smooth muscle physiology and pathophysiology

The physiological functions of the urinary bladder are to store and periodically expel urine. These tasks are facilitated by the contraction and relaxation of the urinary bladder smooth muscle (UBSM), also known as detrusor smooth muscle, which comprises the bladder wall. The large-conductance voltage- and Ca(2+)-activated K(+) (BK, BKCa, MaxiK, Slo1, or KCa1.1) channel is highly expressed in UBSM and is arguably the most important physiologically relevant K(+) channel that regulates UBSM function. Its significance arises from the fact that the BK channel is the only K(+) channel that is activated by increases in both voltage and intracellular Ca(2+). The BK channels control UBSM excitability and contractility by maintaining the resting membrane potential and shaping the repolarization phase of the spontaneous action potentials that determine UBSM spontaneous rhythmic contractility. In UBSM, these channels have complex regulatory mechanisms involving integrated intracellular Ca(2+) signals, protein kinases, phosphodiesterases, and close functional interactions with muscarinic and β-adrenergic receptors. BK channel dysfunction is implicated in some forms of bladder pathologies, such as detrusor overactivity, and related overactive bladder. This review article summarizes the current state of knowledge of the functional role of UBSM BK channels under normal and pathophysiological conditions and provides new insight toward the BK channels as targets for pharmacological or genetic control of UBSM function. Modulation of UBSM BK channels can occur by directly or indirectly targeting their regulatory mechanisms, which has the potential to provide novel therapeutic approaches for bladder dysfunction, such as overactive bladder and detrusor underactivity.