Classification of cells in detrusor smooth muscle syncytium based on analysis of spontaneous electrical activities

The wide variety of action potential shapes observed in the spontaneous electrical activities of the the urinary bladder smooth muscle tissue (detrusor) is difficult to comprehend. the Experimental exploration of the same is near impossible because of the small size of the smooth muscle cells and the heterogeneous syncytial arrangement of interconnected smooth muscle cells and their complex innervation. In this paper, an approach to uncover the biophysical environment of a smooth muscle cell based on the analysis of the intracellularly recorded spontaneous electrical activities is presented. From the recordings taken from 20 smooth muscle cells, templates were formed which represent the types of shapes seen in the spontaneous activity of the detrusor. The signals expressed by the individual muscle cells are then classified into different groups represented by the above templates. The statistics of the signals in each group, expressed by the cells are then used to classify the cells types. Four categories of cells are thus identified in this study. It is expected that the cells belonging to a single category have identical biophysical environments. Based on the types of shapes and their frequencies expressed by the cells belonging to each of the categories, some properties of the biophysical environment could be inferred.