title: Effect of catalase on regional cerebral blood flow and brain edema during the early phase of experimental pneumococcal meningitis.
abstract: Previous studies have demonstrated that the radical scavenger superoxide dismutase completely blocked the increase of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF), intracranial pressure (ICP), and brain water content during the early phase of experimental pneumococcal meningitis in the rat. To obtain information on the nature of the reactive oxygen species involved, the effect of catalase, a hydrogen peroxide scavenger, was tested. Rats injected intracisternally with live pneumococci were either untreated or received intravenous catalase. The increase of rCBF and brain water content in infected untreated rats was significantly attenuated by catalase 6 h after intracisternal challenge. ICP increased in both infected groups, with a trend toward lower ICP with catalase treatment. Cerebrospinal fluid white blood cell counts were not significantly different between infected groups. These results and previous experiments using superoxide dismutase suggest that the increase of rCBF, ICP, and brain water content is mainly caused by superoxide or superoxide reaction products.
authors.affiliation: Klinikum Grosshadern, Max von Pettenkofer Institute for Hygiene and Microbiology, University of Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: H W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Pfister
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Ködel
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Dirnagl
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Haberl
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ruckdeschel
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Einhäupl
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001929:Brain Edema / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002374:Catalase / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002555:Cerebrospinal Fluid / Q000166:cytology / Q000382:microbiology; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000187:drug effects*; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D007427:Intracranial Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008297:Male; D008586:Meningitis, Pneumococcal / Q000503:physiopathology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D002374:Catalase