Abstract
The pathology of streptococcal meningitis is poorly understood, even though streptococcal infection induces meningitis. The aim of this study was to clarify the relationship between streptococcal meningitis and aquaporin 4 (AQP4) in the mouse brain. After Streptococcus suis infection, the streptococcal number was calculated, and AQP4 mRNA expression in the brain was quantified at 2 and 7 days after infection. At 7-day post-infection, mice with neurological symptoms showed significantly higher S. suis levels in the brain than mice without neurological symptoms. AQP4 expression was significantly decreased in mice with neurological symptoms than in mice without neurological symptoms. Image analysis demonstrated that S. suis progressed to invade the white matter. Pathological analysis revealed that infected mouse brains had higher inflammation and neurological damage scores than uninfected mouse brains. Therefore, mice with neurological symptoms caused by streptococcal meningitis had high S. suis levels in the brain and reduced AQP4 expression.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the research staff of the Laboratory of Clinical Research on Infectious Disease, RIMD, Osaka University (Japan), who helped operate the microscopes. This work was supported by research grants from the Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists B (24791022) and the Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture of Japan.
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Communicated by Erko Stackebrandt.
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Nakayama, T. Streptococcal meningitis reveals the presence of residual streptococci and down-regulated aquaporin 4 in the brain. Arch Microbiol 203, 6329–6335 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-021-02583-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-021-02583-1