title: [Contributions of experimental models to the physiopathology and treatment of bacterial meningitis].
abstract: Access to the cerebrospinal fluid, which is the only objective reflection of the essential parametres, is very limited. Investigators have long tried to design an animal model. Presently, the experimental model of the newborn rat is most often used for studying pathogenic factors in haematogenous meningitis. In contrast, the rabbit model is more adapted to therapeutic investigation The main advances have been therapeutic and pathophysiologic. Good examples are the identification of optimum antibiotic levels in the cerebrospinal fluid, and the demonstration of the responsibility of mediators produced by the host in triggering the inflammation. The principle of corticosteroid treatment before induction of bacterial lysis by antibiotics in Haemophilus meningitis is a result of such work.
authors.affiliation: Clinique des maladies infectieuses et tropicales, Hôpital Saint-Louis, Paris.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Decazes
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D016920:Meningitis, Bacterial / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents
vernacular_title: Apports des modèles expérimentaux à la physiopathologie et à la thérapeutique des méningites bactériennes.