Evidence of Cold Receptors in the Human Bladder: Effect of Menthol on the Bladder Cooling Reflex

Abstract

The effect of menthol on the human bladder cooling reflex was studied prospectively in a group of patients with a positive ice water test. Menthol has a selective potentiating action on cutaneous cold receptors and shifts the temperature response curve of the bladder cooling reflex towards higher temperatures in animal experiments. The substance had an almost identical effect on the human bladder, that is it caused a shift of the threshold temperature of the bladder cooling reflex towards a higher value in all tested patients. Thus, it can be concluded that the human bladder cooling reflex originates from cold receptors within the bladder wall.