title: Septic metastatic encephalitis: coexistence of brain damage and repair.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Septic metastatic encephalitis (SME) arises from systemic bacterial infections and is a severe complication of sepsis with a high mortality. In this study, we examined the neuropathological findings in humans suffering from SME including white matter pathology and proliferation of neural precursor cells in the hippocampal dentate gyrus.
  
  
  METHODS
  The brains of 10 autopsy cases with SME and 10 control cases after sudden death from non-neurological causes were studied by means of immunohistochemistry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found diffuse axonal injury and demyelination in the frontal cortex (P = 0.01) as well as increased numbers of recently generated TUC-4 expressing neurones in the hippocampal dentate gyrus in SME cases (P = 0.01). The median density of apoptotic granule cells in the dentate gyrus also was higher in SME cases, the difference, however, failed to reach statistical significance (P = 0.25).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The coexistence of degenerative processes predominantly in the neocortex and regenerative activity in the hippocampal formation known from bacterial meningitis also characterizes the pathology of SME.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, RWTH University Hospital, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Tauber
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bunkowski
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Brück
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nau
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017209:Apoptosis; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D020833:Diffuse Axonal Injury / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D004660:Encephalitis / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055495:Neurogenesis; D009474:Neurons / Q000473:pathology*; D018805:Sepsis / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*