Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT)-induced bladder contraction is enhanced after partial bladder outlet obstruction (pBOO) in rats. We investigated time-dependent changes in bladder contraction and expression of 5-HT 2A and 5-HT 2B receptor mRNA in bladder tissue to elucidate the mechanism of this enhancement. On day 3 and 7 after pBOO, contractile responses of isolated rat bladder strips to 5-HT were increased compared with that in sham-operated rats; on day 14, the response had decreased to the same level as that in sham rat bladders. In contrast, carbacholinduced contraction was not enhanced by pBOO at any time point. In sham rats, 5-HT 2A receptor mRNA was expressed in the urothelium, and 5-HT 2B receptor mRNA was expressed in the detrusor muscle layer. In pBOO rats, both receptor mRNAs were increased in the detrusor muscle and subserosal layers, but not in the urothelium. The increase of 5-HT 2A receptor mRNA was maintained from day 3 to day 14 after pBOO, and 5-HT 2B receptor mRNA was increased on day 7 after pBOO. These results suggested that pBOO induced up-regulation of the 5-HT 2A and 5-HT 2B receptors in the detrusor muscle and subserosal layers of the bladder, and such up-regulation may be related to the enhanced bladder contractile response to 5-HT.Partial bladder outlet obstruction (pBOO) secondary to benign prostate hyperplasia has been considered an important factor associated with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). LUTS include voiding symptoms (e.g., weak urine stream and urinary retention) and storage symptoms (e.g., urinary frequency, urgency and nocturia) (1). Voiding symptom is attributed to increased urethral resistance due to static and dynamic prostatic obstruction. In contrast, the mechanism responsible for storage symptoms secondary to pBOO remains unknown. To clarify the mechanism, several changes in the bladder have been investigated with animal models of pBOO (13,14,17). In these animal models, urothelium, subserosal layer, and detrusor muscle layer of the bladder are thickened (2, 7, 24). These morphological alterations result in some functional changes, such as detrusor overactivity. These morphological and functional alterations reach different states at different time points after pBOO (2,16,19). Therefore, both morphological and functional changes must be evaluated at several time points to reveal the mechanisms responsible for the storage symptoms secondary to pBOO. One of the important functional changes in the bladder with pBOO is the contractile response associated with detrusor overactivity. Contractile responses to ATP and acetylcholine are changed by pBOO; however, descriptions of these changes are not consistent among reports (2,7,19,25). Therefore, the myogenic change caused by pBOO is not fully understood. Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) is a mono-