
The bladder is a hollow organ composed of smooth muscle. Smooth muscles are muscles that tighten and relax automatically. The bladder wall contains specialised smooth muscle, known as detrusor muscle, which contracts during micturition. The detrusor muscle is composed of three layers of smooth muscle cells, with the inner and outer layers oriented longitudinally and the middle one circularly. This orientation is important as it determines the bladder's shape and intraluminal pressure.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Bladder muscle composition | Consists of three layers of smooth muscle cells |
| Smooth muscle cell orientation | Inner and outer layers are longitudinal, middle layer is circular |
| Smooth muscle cell shape | Small and spindle-shaped |
| Smooth muscle function | Allows the bladder to stretch and contract |
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What You'll Learn
- The bladder is a hollow smooth muscle organ
- The bladder wall contains specialised smooth muscle, known as detrusor muscle
- The detrusor muscle is composed of three layers of typical smooth muscle cells
- Smooth muscles are muscles that tighten and relax automatically
- The bladder muscle has a broad length-tension relationship

The bladder is a hollow smooth muscle organ
During the storage phase, the muscle cells have to relax and elongate for a long time interval to store urine. In contrast, during the voiding phase, they have to shorten in a synchronised way over a short time period to expel urine as quickly as possible. The detrusor muscle's fibres are oriented in multiple directions, providing the bladder with the ability to stretch in response to the presence of urine. This helps to retain the structural integrity of the bladder when it is stretched.
The detrusor muscle receives innervation from both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The fibres of the detrusor muscle often become hypertrophic, presenting as prominent trabeculae, to compensate for the increased workload of the bladder emptying. This is a common occurrence in conditions that obstruct the urine outflow, such as benign prostatic hyperplasia.
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The bladder wall contains specialised smooth muscle, known as detrusor muscle
The bladder is a hollow smooth muscle organ. It is composed of three layers of typical smooth muscle cells, with the inner and outer layers oriented longitudinally and the middle one circularly. This orientation is important because it determines the bladder's shape and intraluminal pressure.
The detrusor muscle receives innervation from both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The fibres of the detrusor muscle often become hypertrophic (presenting as prominent trabeculae) in order to compensate for the increased workload of the bladder emptying. This is very common in conditions that obstruct the urine outflow, such as benign prostatic hyperplasia.
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The detrusor muscle is composed of three layers of typical smooth muscle cells
The bladder is a hollow smooth muscle organ. It is composed of the bladder body located above the ureteral orifices and the base, consisting of the trigone and the urethrovesical junction. The bladder or detrusor muscle is composed of three layers of typical smooth muscle cells. The inner and outer layers are oriented longitudinally, while the middle layer is circular. This orientation is important as it determines the bladder's shape and intraluminal pressure.
During the storage phase, the muscle cells have to relax and elongate for a long time interval to store urine. In contrast, during the voiding phase, they have to shorten in a synchronised way over a short time period to expel the urine as quickly as possible. The detrusor muscle's fibres are oriented in multiple directions, allowing the bladder to retain its structural integrity when stretched.
The bladder wall contains specialised smooth muscle, which receives innervation from both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The fibres of the detrusor muscle often become hypertrophic, presenting as prominent trabeculae, to compensate for the increased workload of the bladder emptying. This is common in conditions that obstruct the urine outflow, such as benign prostatic hyperplasia.
The bladder muscle has a broad length–tension relationship, allowing tension to be developed over a large range of resting muscle lengths.
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Smooth muscles are muscles that tighten and relax automatically
The bladder is a hollow smooth muscle organ, composed of the bladder body located above the ureteral orifices and the base, consisting of the trigone and the urethrovesical junction. Smooth muscles are muscles that tighten and relax automatically. They contain thick and thin filaments that do not arrange into sarcomeres, resulting in a non-striated pattern. On microscopic examination, they appear homogenous. Smooth muscle cytoplasm contains large amounts of actin and myosin, which are the main proteins involved in muscle contraction.
Smooth muscles have greater elastic properties than striated muscles. They can tense and relax, but simply reducing calcium levels will not produce muscle relaxation. Myosin light chain phosphatase (MLCP) is responsible for dephosphorylation of the myosin light chains, ultimately leading to smooth muscle relaxation. The regulation of smooth muscle relaxation is vitally important for the normal functioning of respiratory airways, gastrointestinal organs and the circulatory system.
The bladder wall contains specialised smooth muscle – known as detrusor muscle. Its fibres are orientated in multiple directions, thus retaining structural integrity when stretched. This interwoven orientation provides the bladder with the ability to stretch in response to the presence of urine. The detrusor muscle is composed of three layers of typical smooth muscle cells, where the inner and outer layers are oriented longitudinally and the middle one circularly. This orientation is important because it determines the bladder’s shape and intraluminal pressure. During the storage phase, the muscle cells have to relax and elongate for a long time interval for storage, whereas during the voiding phase they have to shorten in a synchronised way over a short time period to expel the urine as quickly as possible.
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The bladder muscle has a broad length-tension relationship
The bladder is a hollow smooth muscle organ. It is made up of three layers of smooth muscle cells, with the inner and outer layers oriented longitudinally and the middle layer oriented circularly. This smooth muscle is known as the detrusor muscle. The detrusor muscle has fibres oriented in multiple directions, which allows the bladder to retain its structural integrity when stretched.
The detrusor muscle has a broad length-tension relationship, meaning that tension can be developed over a large range of resting muscle lengths. This is important for the bladder's function, as it needs to be able to relax and elongate during the storage phase, and then shorten in a synchronised way over a short time period during the voiding phase to expel urine as quickly as possible.
The detrusor muscle receives innervation from both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The fibres of the detrusor muscle often become hypertrophic to compensate for an increased workload of the bladder emptying. This is common in conditions that obstruct the urine outflow, such as benign prostatic hyperplasia.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, the bladder is a hollow smooth muscle organ.
The bladder is made up of smooth muscle fibres, which are collectively known as the detrusor muscle.
The detrusor muscle is a specialised smooth muscle that allows the bladder to contract during micturition.
The detrusor muscle has fibres oriented in multiple directions, which allows the bladder to retain its structural integrity when stretched. During the storage phase, the muscle cells relax and elongate to store urine. During the voiding phase, they shorten in a synchronised way to expel urine as quickly as possible.









































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