Figure 4.

 Colitis causes lasting impairment to 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin; 5-HT) induced contraction of isolated circular smooth muscle cells (CSMC). Time course of contraction of CSMC isolated from day 4 (D4) or day 36 (D36) animals showed a significant decrease in 5-HT induced response by D4 and a further significant decrease by D36 relative to control (D0). Data points represent the mean per cent contraction (n = 3 animals per condition at 10 cells/animal). Per cent contraction for D4 and D36 was significantly less than for D0 at all time points ⩾500 ms. Per cent contraction for D36 was significantly less than that for D4 at all time points ⩾2000 mc (p⩽0.05).