The effect of anesthetics on bacterial swimming.

Areas (cm²) of motility halos formed by E. coli K12 parent strain (A-C) and P. aeruginosa (D-F) exposed to isoflurane, sevoflurane or propofol at various concentrations are shown. E. coli K12 fliC deletion mutant, which lacks flagellin, was included as a control strain with no motility in (A). Data shown as mean ± SD; n = 4 for all conditions. Statistical analysis was performed using one-way analysis of variance with Bonferroni post hoc analysis for A, B and D. C, E, and F were analyzed using an unpaired t-test. * and ** denote p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively. n.s. = not significant.