New perspectives of studying gastrointestinal muscle function

Figure 3 Illustration of a ramp distension curve in the human esophagus. The thick line at the end of the curve is the reverse point. The open symbols above the curve mark the phasic part and the afterload pressure. The closed symbols under the curve mark the tonic part of the distension curve and the preload pressure. The passive pressure is measured from the tonic part of the curve during administration of butylscopolamine. At the symbols pressure and CSA was measured and radius and tension was computed from these values. Modified from previous publications by Gregersen and coworkers.