title: Inflammatory response during bacterial meningitis is unchanged in Fas- and Fas ligand-deficient mice.
abstract: Fas (CD95) and Fas ligand (FasL, CD95L) have been implicated to be involved in the acute inflammatory response by attracting neutrophils and regulating their survival. Increased levels of soluble Fas and FasL are found in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples of patients with bacterial meningitis but not in controls. Functional FasL (gld)- or Fas (lpr)-deficient mice were used to assess their role in the pathophysiology of pneumococcal meningitis. Induction of meningitis in wild-type (WT) mice caused an increase in CSF white blood cell (WBC) count, intracranial pressure (ICP), and vessel permeability, paralleled by a worse clinical status at 24 h. The inflammatory response was accompanied by elevated levels of IL-1beta, MMP-2, and MMP-9 in the brain. Neither gld- nor lpr-mice showed significant differences in the above-mentioned pneumococci-induced pathophysiological alterations. These results indicate that Fas and FasL are not essential in the regulation of the acute inflammatory response during pneumococcal meningitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Klinikum Grosshadern, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Marchioninistr. 15, 81377 Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Paul
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Angele
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sporer
authors.forename: Hans-Walter
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Pfister
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Koedel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D053222:Fas Ligand Protein; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000172:deficiency*; D008586:Meningitis, Pneumococcal / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D051379:Mice; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D051381:Rats; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D019014:fas Receptor / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: C505661:FASLG protein, human; D053222:Fas Ligand Protein; C505658:Fasl protein, mouse; C505662:Faslg protein, rat; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D019014:fas Receptor