Experimental Pneumococcal Meningitis in Mice: A Model of Intranasal Infection

Effective laboratory animal models of bacterial meningitis are needed to unravel the pathophysiology of this disease. Previous models have failed to simulate human meningitis by using a directly intracerebral route of infection. Hyaluronidase is a virulence factor of Streptococcus pneumoniae. In thi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of infectious diseases 2001-04, Vol.183 (7), p.1143-1146
Main Authors: Zwijnenburg, Petra J. G., van der Poll, Tom, Florquin, Sandrine, van Deventer, Sander J. H., Roord, John J., van Furth, A. Marceline
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal models
Animals
Bacteremia - microbiology
Bacterial diseases
Bacterial meningitis
Biological and medical sciences
Blood
Brain - immunology
Chemokines, CXC - analysis
Concise Communications
Cytokines
Cytokines - analysis
Disease models
Disease Models, Animal
Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
Experimental bacterial diseases and models
Experimental mycoses and models
Female
Hyaluronoglucosaminidase - pharmacology
Infections
Infectious diseases
Inoculation
Leukocytosis - cerebrospinal fluid
Medical sciences
Meninges - pathology
Meningitis, Bacterial - cerebrospinal fluid
Meningitis, Bacterial - microbiology
Mice
Mycoses
Pneumococcal Infections - cerebrospinal fluid
Pneumococcal Infections - microbiology
Pneumococcal meningitis
Rhinitis - microbiology
Streptococcus pneumoniae
Streptococcus pneumoniae - pathogenicity
Virulence
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Summary:Effective laboratory animal models of bacterial meningitis are needed to unravel the pathophysiology of this disease. Previous models have failed to simulate human meningitis by using a directly intracerebral route of infection. Hyaluronidase is a virulence factor of Streptococcus pneumoniae. In this study, a novel model of murine meningitis is described. Intranasal administration of S. pneumoniae with hyaluronidase induced meningitis in 50% of inoculated mice, as defined by a positive cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) culture and an inflammatory infiltrate in the meninges. None of the mice inoculated without hyaluronidase developed meningitis. Hyaluronidase was found to facilitate pneumococcal invasion of the bloodstream after colonization of the upper respiratory tract. Meningitis was characterized by pleocytosis of CSF and the induction of proinflammatory cytokines and CXC chemokines in brain tissue. These results indicate that this murine model mimics important features of human disease and allow for the use of this model for studying issues related to the pathophysiology and the treatment of pneumococcal meningitis
ISSN:0022-1899
1537-6613
DOI:10.1086/319271