Blockade of NMDA receptor subtype NR2B prevents seizures but not apoptosis of dentate gyrus neurons in bacterial meningitis in infant rats

Kolarova, Anna; Ringer, Ralph; Täuber, Martin G.; Leib, Stephen L. (2003). Blockade of NMDA receptor subtype NR2B prevents seizures but not apoptosis of dentate gyrus neurons in bacterial meningitis in infant rats. BMC neuroscience, 4(21), p. 21. London: BioMed Central 10.1186/1471-2202-4-21

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BACKGROUND: Excitotoxic neuronal injury by action of the glutamate receptors of the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) subtype have been implicated in the pathogenesis of brain damage as a consequence of bacterial meningitis. The most potent and selective blocker of NMDA receptors containing the NR2B subunit is (R,S)-alpha-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-beta-methyl-4-(phenylmethyl)-1-piperid inepropanol (RO 25-6981). Here we evaluated the effect of RO 25-6981 on hippocampal neuronal apoptosis in an infant rat model of meningitis due to Streptococcus pneumoniae. Animals were randomized for treatment with RO 25-6981 at a dosage of either 0.375 mg (15 mg/kg; n = 28) or 3.75 mg (150 mg/kg; n = 15) every 3 h or an equal volume of sterile saline (250 microl; n = 40) starting at 12 h after infection. Eighteen hours after infection, animals were assessed clinically and seizures were observed for a period of 2 h. At 24 h after infection animals were sacrificed and brains were examined for apoptotic injury to the dentate granule cell layer of the hippocampus. RESULTS: Treatment with RO 25-6981 had no effect on clinical scores, but the incidence of seizures was reduced (P < 0.05 for all RO 25-6981 treated animals combined). The extent of apoptosis was not affected by low or high doses of RO 25-6981. Number of apoptotic cells (median [range]) was 12.76 [3.16-25.3] in animals treated with low dose RO 25-6981 (control animals 13.8 [2.60-31.8]; (P = NS) and 9.8 [1.7-27.3] (controls: 10.5 [2.4-21.75]) in animals treated with high dose RO 25-6981 (P = NS). CONCLUSIONS: Treatment with a highly selective blocker of NMDA receptors containing the NR2B subunit failed to protect hippocampal neurons from injury in this model of pneumococcal meningitis, while it had some beneficial effect on the incidence of seizures.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Service Sector > Institute for Infectious Diseases

UniBE Contributor:

Täuber, Martin G., Leib, Stephen

Subjects:

500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology
600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

1471-2202

ISBN:

13129439

Publisher:

BioMed Central

Language:

English

Submitter:

Factscience Import

Date Deposited:

04 Oct 2013 15:00

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:18

Publisher DOI:

10.1186/1471-2202-4-21

PubMed ID:

13129439

Web of Science ID:

000185989700001

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.25721

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/25721 (FactScience: 60808)

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