title: Serial cerebrospinal fluid neurofilament concentrations in bacterial meningitis.
abstract: Neurofilament (NF) is one of the major cytoskeleton proteins of neurons. We investigated the concentrations of the heavy subunit of NF (NF-H) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) as biomarkers of neuronal injury in bacterial meningitis. Concentrations of NF-H in CSF of 26 children with bacterial meningitis and in 16 control subjects were measured by ELISA. The CSF NF-H levels were elevated in 22 of the 26 children (85%) with bacterial meningitis. The peak CSF NF-H level occurred at a median period of 10.5 days after onset of illness (range, 1 to 35 days). The peak CSF NF-H levels of the patients with neurological sequelae (n=4) were significantly higher than those without sequelae (n=22) (7.06 vs. 2.46 ng/mL as median, p=0.048). There was no significant difference in CSF NF-H levels between patients with and without severe neurological sequelae up to day 14 of illness, but the CSF NF-H levels in patients with sequelae were significantly higher than in those without sequelae after day 14 of illness (2.04 vs. 1.19 ng/mL as median, p=0.024). We suggest that neuronal injury occurs in bacterial meningitis regardless of the presence or absence of neurological sequelae.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, Yamaguchi, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsushige
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ichiyama
authors.forename: Madoka
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kajimoto
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Okuda
authors.forename: Shinnosuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fukunaga
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Furukawa
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D016920:Meningitis, Bacterial / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000150:complications; D020814:Meningitis, Escherichia coli / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000150:complications; D008583:Meningitis, Haemophilus / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000150:complications; D008586:Meningitis, Pneumococcal / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000150:complications; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus; D016900:Neurofilament Proteins / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D010291:Paresis / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000150:complications; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D016900:Neurofilament Proteins