Fig. 4

Lidocaine suppresses acetylcholine-mediated tentacular contractions. Pretreatment with 10 mM lidocaine resulted in loss of acetylcholine-induced tentacle contraction in all the juvenile polyps tested (A–C, G–I, P). This loss was statistically similar to controls (P–) (p ≥ 0.05). This was repeated in polyps pretreated with 10 mM lidocaine and then 10 mM nicotine (M–O, P). Samples pretreated with lidocaine had tentacular contractions that were significantly different from treatments with acetylcholine or nicotine alone (p ≤ 0.05%). Quantifications comparing the contraction of tentacles are summarized in P; bars that do not share letters indicate a significant difference between treatment groups. All images have the oral end directed to the left of the figure. p values were calculated using a student t test. Each experiment was performed N ≥ 3 times with an n ≥ 7/replicate