Fungi anaesthesia

TL;DR

This study investigates the electrical activity of Pleurotus ostreatus fungus and how chloroform vapour exposure affects its electrical signals, revealing potential for modulating fungal electrical behavior.

Contribution

It is the first to analyze the effects of chloroform vapour on fungal electrical activity, demonstrating reversible modulation of baseline potential and spiking behavior.

Findings

Chloroform vapour decreases baseline potential wave amplitude.

Chloroform vapour reduces or stops spiking activity.

Electrical activity recovers after vapour removal.

Abstract

Electrical activity of fungus \emph{Pleurotus ostreatus} is characterised by slow (hours) irregular waves of baseline potential drift and fast (minutes) action potential likes spikes of the electrical potential. An exposure of the mycelium colonised substrate to a chloroform vapour lead to several fold decrease of the baseline potential waves and increase of their duration. The chloroform vapour also causes either complete cessation of spiking activity or substantial reduction of the spiking frequency. Removal of the chloroform vapour from the growth containers leads to a gradual restoration of the mycelium electrical activity.