Zimmerli, Stefan; Knecht, Urspeter; Leib, Stephen L. (2007). A model of cerebral aspergillosis in non-immunosuppressed nursing rats. Acta neuropathologica, 114(4), pp. 411-418. Berlin: Springer-Verlag 10.1007/s00401-007-0255-0
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Central nervous system aspergillosis is an often fatal complication of invasive Aspergillus infection. Relevant disease models are needed to study the pathophysiology of cerebral aspergillosis and to develop novel therapeutic approaches. This study presents a model of central nervous system aspergillosis that mimics important aspects of human disease. Eleven-day-old non-immunosuppressed male Wistar rats were infected by an intracisternal injection of 10 mul of a conidial suspension of Aspergillus fumigatus. An inoculum of 7.18 log(10) colony-forming units (CFU) consistently produced cerebral infection and resulted in death of all animals (n = 25) within 3-10 days. Median survival time was 3 days. Histomorphologically, all animals developed intracerebral abscesses (2-26 per brain) containing abundant fungal hyphae and neutrophils. Fungal culture of cortical homogenates yielded maximal growth on day 3 after infection (5.4 log(10) CFU/g, n = 15) that declined over time. Galactomannan concentrations in cortical homogenates, assessed as an index for hyphal burden, peaked on days 3-5. Fungal infection spread to peripheral organs in 83% of animals. Fungal burden in lung, liver, spleen and kidney was two orders of magnitude lower than in the brain. The successful establishment of a model of cerebral aspergillosis in a non-immunosuppressed host provides the opportunity to investigate mechanisms of disease and to develop novel treatment regimens for this commonly fatal infection.
Item Type: |
Journal Article (Original Article) |
|---|---|
Division/Institute: |
04 Faculty of Medicine > Service Sector > Institute for Infectious Diseases |
UniBE Contributor: |
Zimmerli, Stephan, Leib, Stephen |
ISSN: |
0001-6322 |
ISBN: |
17602232 |
Publisher: |
Springer-Verlag |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Factscience Import |
Date Deposited: |
04 Oct 2013 14:56 |
Last Modified: |
02 Mar 2023 23:22 |
Publisher DOI: |
10.1007/s00401-007-0255-0 |
PubMed ID: |
17602232 |
Web of Science ID: |
000249776100009 |
BORIS DOI: |
10.7892/boris.23929 |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/23929 (FactScience: 45263) |
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