Figure 5.

Contraction patterns of Tethya wilhelmaduring extracorporeal adrenaline and serotonine application (a - d): Projected area of four specimens of T. wilhelma before, during (grey background) and after application of adrenaline (a - b) and serotonine (c - d) respectively. Adrenaline did not induce contractions, but resulted in prolonged phases of expansion (a, b; see additional file 5: Movie_S5.mov for the time-lapse movie of Fig. 5c). Serotonine induced contractions at higher concentrations (c), but not at lower concentrations (d). Filled arrowheads indicate the points in time when stock solutions of the substances were injected into the experimental reactor circulation system to reach final concentrations of 44 μM (a) and 22 μM (b) for adrenaline and 65 μM (d), 260 μM and 520 μM (c) for serotonine. Open arrowheads indicate the wash out of the substance from the experimental reactor system.