S100B in the cerebrospinal fluid--a marker for glial damage in the rabbit model of pneumococcal meningitis.

The rabbit model provides an important experimental setting for the evaluation of antibiotic agents against pneumococcal meningitis. One of the primary targets of this model is the study of neuronal and glial cell damage in bacterial meningitis. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate whether a significant increase of S100B in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) as an indicator of white matter damage could be observed in this meningitis model.

Glycerol does not reduce neuronal damage in experimental Streptococcus pneumoniae meningitis in rabbits.

To study the effect of high-dose glycerol therapy on inflammation and neuronal destruction in a model of experimental pneumococcal meningitis, 14 New Zealand White rabbits were infected intracisternally with Streptococcus pneumoniae type 3. Sixteen hours after infection, 7 animals received intravenous glycerol therapy (1 g kg(-1) bolus and 0.5 g kg (1)h(-1) maintenance dose) and 7 animals served as untreated controls.

Pharmacodynamics of antibiotics with respect to bacterial killing of and release of lipoteichoic acid by Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Objectives: There are marked differences in the amount of immunoreactive components such as lipoteichoic acid (LTA) released from Gram-positive bacteria following exposure to different antibiotics. Little is known about the kinetics and amount of release of such components in relation to bacterial killing.

Methods: Bacterial killing and LTA release from Streptococcus pneumoniae type 3 during exposure to ceftriaxone, meropenem, rifampicin, rifabutin, quinupristin/dalfopristin, and trovafloxacin in tryptic soy broth were quantified microbiologically and by ELISA, respectively.

Organotypic hippocampal cultures. A model of brain tissue damage in Streptococcus pneumoniae meningitis.

Hippocampal slices of newborn rats were exposed to either heat-inactivated Streptococcus pneumoniae R6 (hiR6) equivalent to 10(6) and 10(8) CFU/ml, lipoteichoic acid (LTA) (0.3 microg/ml and 30 microg/ml), peptidoglycans (PG) (0.3, 30, 50 and 100 microg/ml), pneumococcal DNA (pDNA) (0.

Release of teichoic and lipoteichoic acids from 30 different strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae during exposure to ceftriaxone, meropenem, quinupristin/dalfopristin, rifampicin and trovafloxacin.

The release of teichoic acids (TA) and lipoteichoic acids (LTA) from 30 different strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae during exposure to ceftriaxone, meropenem, quinupristin/dalfopristin, rifampicin and trovafloxacin at concentrations of 10 micrograms/ml and of the respective MIC was determined by an enzyme immunoassay. At 10 micrograms/ml the most rapid and intense release was detected during treatment with the beta-lactam antibiotics ceftriaxone and meropenem, the lowest release was seen with rifampicin and quinupristin/dalfopristin. Trovafloxacin delayed the release of TA/LTA.