[Immobilization of a sensitive plant, Mimosa pudica L., by volatile anesthetics].

The disappearance of thigmonastic mobility of a sensitive plant, Mimosa pudica L., caused by volatile anesthetic agents such as methoxyflurane, chloroform, halothane, enflurane or sevoflurane revealed that the response to anesthetic agents in plants maybe similar to that in animals. In terms of reversible anesthesia, animals seem to equal plants in order of potency of anesthetics, and the minimum immobilizing concentration (MIC; %) in the plant shows a good correlation with MAC in the human (MICplant = 5.8 MAChuman + 0.01, r2 = 0.946). These phenomena suggest the existence of a certain common mechanism in anesthesia between animals and plants.