Effect of maternal antibiotic treatment on fetal periventricular white matter cell death in a rabbit intrauterine infection model.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effects of maternal antibiotic treatment on fetal brain cell death in a rabbit intrauterine infection model.


METHODS
After Escherichia coli uterine-horn inoculation in 22 pregnant rabbits, followed at various times by ceftriaxone and caesarean section, cell death in white matter (histology and fragmented DNA staining) from fetuses killed at extraction was compared across groups using the Mantel-Haenszel test and Fisher's exact test for small numbers.


RESULTS
White matter cell death was consistently present at 48 h, with ceftriaxone initiation at 24 h (group 1), detectable at 84 but not 60 h, with ceftriaxone initiation at 12 h, and significantly reduced at 84 h with ceftriaxone initiation at 6 h (60% vs 100% in group 1, p < 0.001, Fisher's exact test).


CONCLUSIONS
Early maternal antibiotic therapy delays white matter cell death in rabbit fetuses exposed to intrauterine infection. This may provide a window for preventing white matter damage.
Debillon
T
T
Service de Néonatologie, Hôpital Mère-Enfant, CHRU Nantes, Nantes, France. thierry.debillon@chu-nantes.fr
Gras-Leguen
C
C
Vérielle
V
V
Caillon
J
J
Roze
J C
JC
Gressens
P
P
D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000196:embryology* / Q000473:pathology; D002443:Ceftriaxone / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016923:Cell Death / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002552:Cerebral Ventricles / Q000187:drug effects / Q000196:embryology / Q000473:pathology; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000196:embryology*; D005260:Female; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D011247:Pregnancy; D011817:Rabbits
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D002443:Ceftriaxone