Figure 4 Effect of stress on oesophageal mucosa permeability. Acute stress, by itself, increased oesophageal mucosa permeability. Stressed rats (filled symbols) and control rats (open symbols). (A) The permeability for 51Cr‐EDTA (400 Da) was significantly higher in oesophageal mucosa from stressed rats compared with tissue from control rats, both at 60 and 120 min. (B) Stress did not increase mucosal permeability to medium FD4 (4000 Da) and (C) larger molecules FD20 (20 000 Da). Data expressed as mean ± SEM; n = 5–8 rats/group, with two tissues averaged per rat; stress vs control: *p<0.05 and **p<0.01.