A. Isoflurane (lanes 7 to 9) induces caspase-3 cleavage (activation) by increasing caspase-3 fragment levels and decreasing full length (FL)-caspase-3 levels as compared to control conditions (lanes 1 to 3) in Western blot analysis. Treatment with 2-deoxy-d-glucose (2-DG) (lanes 4 to 6) does not induce caspase-3 activation as compared to the control condition (lanes 1 to 3), but 2-DG treatment attenuates isoflurane-induced caspase-3 activation (lanes 10 to 12) as compared to isoflurane treatment alone (lanes 7 to 9). B. Quantification of the Western blots shows that isoflurane treatment (gray bar, F = 3.94; ** P = 0.009), but not 2-DG (black bar, F= 0.68; P = 0.180, N.S.), induces caspase-3 activation, assessed by quantifying the ratio of caspase-3 fragment to FL-caspase-3, as compared to that of control conditions (white bar). Two-way ANOVA shows that there is an interaction of 2-DG and isoflurane on caspase-3 activation (striped bar, F = 8.68; # P = 0.019) and that 2-DG attenuates isoflurane-induced caspase-3 activation. N = 3.