Figure 1.
The contractile effects of thrombin on the rat myometrium. (a) and (b) Representative recordings showing the effects of thrombin (1 u ml−1) on the tension of the non-pregnant rat myometrium (a), and on the [Ca2+]i (upper trace) and tension (lower trace) on the day 18 pregnant rat myometrium (b) in the normal PSS. (c) The concentration-response curves of thrombin-induced contraction in the pregnant and non-pregnant myometrium. The contractile response to thrombin was quantitatively evaluated in two ways; the first peak level of tension development and the area under the tension trace for the initial 10 min. The developed tension was expressed as a percentage, assigning the values in normal and 40 nM K+ PSS to be 0% and 100%, respectively. Data are the mean±s.e.mean (n=7).