Figure 3. Fisher airway smooth muscle cells stiffen fast and also stiffen more.
Airway smooth muscle cells isolated from the relatively hyporesponsive Lewis rat (blue closed circles) and the relatively hyperresponsive Fisher rat (red closed squares) were maximally stimulated with a panel of contractile agonists: A, 5-HT [1 μM]; B, bradykinin [1 μM]; C, acetylcholine [1 μM]; D, carbachol [100 μM]. For each agonist, changes in cell stiffness were normalized to the baseline stiffness of each individual cell before stimulation. [Reproduced by permission of Am. J. Respir. Cell Mole. Biol., Vol. 35, pp. 55-64 (2006), © The American Thoracic Society]