Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40148804›Full record

ArticleBMC infectious diseases2025

Anesthetic choice impacts mortality and bacterial clearance in a murine experimental pneumonia model.

Hunter Gage, Shawn M Hannah, Bryan Hancock, Ingrid Cornax, Jason Munguia, Joshua Olson, Elisabet Bjånes, Raymond Zurich, Alexandria Hoffman, Fatemeh Askarian and 4 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in BMC infectious diseases, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Sedative choice altersInfection and immunity · 2026
    Article
  2. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

14 authors.

Hunter GageDepartment of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Shawn M HannahDepartment of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Bryan HancockDepartment of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Ingrid CornaxDepartment of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Jason MunguiaDepartment of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Joshua OlsonDepartment of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Elisabet BjånesDepartment of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Raymond ZurichDepartment of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Alexandria HoffmanDepartment of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Fatemeh AskarianDepartment of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Khang TongAltman Clinical and Translational Research Institute, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Lin LiuHerbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, University of California, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Victor NizetDepartment of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Angela MeierDepartment of Anesthesiology, Division of Critical Care, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA. anmeier@health.ucsd.edu.

Funding

UCSD/SDSU IRACDAK12GM068524 · NIGMS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · PI TREJO, JOANN · 2003 to 2025
$24.4M
Biomimetic Macrophage Membrane-Coated Nanosponges: A Novel Therapeutic for Multidrug-Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii Hospital-Associated PneumoniaR01AI176554 · NIAID · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · PI Angela Meier, Victor Nizet · 2023 to 2026
$4.0M
NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI176554NIGMS NIH HHS K12 GM068524
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAnimal models of infectious pneumonia often require the use of anesthetics, but their choice and impact on outcome is rarely discussed. This study investigates the impact of the most commonly used anesthetics on mortality and bacterial clearance in a murine model of Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia.

methodsIsoflurane or ketamine/xylazine were determined to be the most commonly utilized anesthetics for murine pneumonia models. Mice were anesthetized with either ketamine/xylazine or isoflurane during intratracheal infection with P. aeruginosa strains PA14 or PA01. Mortality, bacterial clearance, and lung tissue damage were compared. Additional in vitro assays assessed the effects of ketamine on human whole blood killing, serum killing, and neutrophil functions (reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) production, chemotaxis, and phagocytosis).

resultsMice anesthetized with ketamine/xylazine and infected with PA14 had significantly increased mortality (p = 0.004), and significantly higher bacterial burdens in the blood (p = 0.01) and lungs (p < 0.001). In separate experiments with PA01, mice anesthetized with ketamine/xylazine had significantly increased mortality (p = 0.01), higher bacterial burdens in the blood (p = 0.01), and higher bacterial burdens in the lungs (p = 0.02), along with increased lung tissue pathology (p = 0.03) compared to mice anesthetized with isoflurane. Increased mortality and colony forming units were also observed in mice infected under propofol anesthesia, recovered, and subsequently exposed to ketamine versus control (p = 0.004 and p < 0.001, respectively). Ketamine marginally reduced the killing of PA14 in freshly drawn human whole blood (p = 0.0479), but had no significant effect on the serum's ability to kill PA14. In addition, ketamine reduced in vitro NETosis and chemotaxis (all p < 0.05), but had no significant effect on ROS production or phagocytosis of human neutrophils. These in vitro effects were observed only at supraclinical ketamine concentrations.

conclusionsOur study emphasizes that the choice of anesthetic impacts key outcomes in murine models of pneumonia, and should therefore be an important consideration in experimental design and when comparing results across different studies.

Indexed as

AnestheticsPneumonia, BacterialPseudomonas aeruginosaPseudomonas InfectionsAnimalsBacterial LoadDisease Models, AnimalFemaleHumansIsofluraneKetamineLungMaleMiceNeutrophilsReactive Oxygen SpeciesAnestheticsIsofluraneKetamineReactive Oxygen SpeciesXylazineAnestheticsIsofluraneKetamineMouse modelP. aeruginosaPneumonia

Identifiers

PMID40148804
PMCPMC11948837

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.