Fig. 2.

Uterine activity with age of non-pregnant myometrium. a Spontaneous force of contraction, b force of contraction under high (40 mM) K⁺ depolarisation and c force of contraction normalised to high K⁺ (where high K⁺ equalled 100 %), according to age group. Mean force of contraction declined with increasing age group (a) with little activity observed from myometrial strips from women over 50 years of age, in comparison to their younger counterparts. Similarly, maximal force achieved under high K⁺ (b) was reduced in samples from older women, and normalised force shown in (c) also declined with advancing age. Values represent means ± SEM denoted by error bars, values in parenthesis indicate n-numbers