Significant differences in motility properties of <i>E. histolytica</i> following short period of <i>E. coli</i> exposure.

<p>(A) Trajectory plots of trophozoite migration under different conditions: WT control (n = 82), incubation with enteropathogenic <i>E. coli</i> O55 (n = 141), incubation with nonpathogenic <i>E. coli</i> K12 (n = 41), incubation with dead <i>E. coli</i> O55 (n = 79), as well as incubation with fibroblasts (n = 37). Note that WT + O55 group spreads and occupies the entire plot within a relatively short time (red and yellow), whereas the other groups, even over a prolonged period (cyan, blue, and purple), remain confined to a limited area, clearly indicating that the WT + O55 group reaches a greater distance in less time. (B-E) Quantitative comparison of the migration Directionality Ratio (B), Average Speed (C), Maximum Euclidean Displacement (MED) Speed (D), and Normalized Area Coverage Rate (by time and cell size) (E) of <i>E. histolytica</i> under the different conditions described in (A), with Kruskal-Wallis test and post-hoc pairwise comparisons. (F) The schematic diagram illustrates Accumulated Distance, Euclidean Distance, MED, and Area Coverage of cells (with cell overlapping regions not counted multiple times) along with their corresponding time periods. The parameters in Fig B-E are derived from these calculations (details are in Materials and methods section). (G) The relationship between mean square displacements (MSD) and the corresponding time (seconds) was plotted on a logarithmic scale for <i>E. histolytica</i> locomotion under the different conditions. The solid lines and shaded areas represent the linear fit for each group and the corresponding 95% confidence interval. The slopes (α) and standard error of the mean (SEM) from the linear fits are summarized on the right. (F) Comparison of the slopes (α) for each individual cell/plot under the different conditions, with Kruskal-Wallis test with post-hoc pairwise comparisons Notably, the average slope α of O55 group is the highest, indicating that it exhibits the strongest superdiffusive movement pattern. * <i>P</i> < 0.05, ** <i>P</i> < 0.01, *** <i>P</i> < 0.001.</p>