Abstract
Summary
The cecum wall of germfree and conventional rats was compared with respect to content of and sensitivity to biologically active amines. The concentration of nor-adrenaline, 1-adrenaline, dopamine, serotonin, acetylcholine and histamine was found to be of the same order of magnitude in germfree and conventional rats. Strips of the cecum wall from conventional rats exhibited regular spontaneous muscle contractions whereas in germfree rats such an activity was never seen. The cecum wall of the germfree rats was generally less sensitive to acetylcholine, serotonin, 1-adrenaline and histamine. This was most pronounced for acetylcholine. In both kinds of cecum wall, the type of response to the amines administered was similar except for serotonin.
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