In Vivo Demonstration of Neuroinflammatory Molecule Expression in Brain Abscess with Diffusion Tensor Imaging

• Published in: American journal of neuroradiology : AJNR Vol. 29; no. 2; pp. 326 - 332
• Main Authors: Gupta, R.K, Nath, K, Prasad, A, Prasad, K.N, Husain, M, Rathore, R.K.S, Husain, N, Srivastava, C, Khetan, P, Trivedi, R, Narayana, P.A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oak Brook, IL Am Soc Neuroradiology 01-02-2008; American Society of Neuroradiology
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Biomarkers - analysis; Brain; Brain Abscess - diagnosis; Brain Abscess - immunology; Child; Child, Preschool; Cytokines - analysis; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Female; Forecasting; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Infant; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Jurkat Cells; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Molecular Probe Techniques; Nervous system; Perception; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Radiodiagnosis. Nmr imagery. Nmr spectrometry; Staphylococcus; Vision; Nervous system diseases; Diffusion tensor; Radiodiagnosis; Central nervous system; Abscess; Diffusion imaging; Encephalon
• ISSN: 0195-6108; 1936-959X
• DOI: 10.3174/ajnr.A0826

Neuroinflammatory molecules, including tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin1-beta, lymphocyte function associated molecule-1, and intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1 contribute to the development of brain abscess. We hypothesized that the high fractional anisotropy (FA) in the brain abscess cavity reflects the upregulation of these neuroinflammatory molecules.
Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was performed in 24 patients with brain abscess and Staphylococcus aureus-treated as well as nontreated Jurket cell lines (at 4 time points: 1, 24, 48, and 72 hours). Neuroinflammatory molecules were quantified from the brain abscess cavity aspirate of the patients as well as from the heat-killed S aureus-treated and nontreated cell lines and correlated with DTI measures.
The DTI-derived FA strongly correlated with the presence of neuroinflammatory molecules in the pus as well as in S aureus-treated cell lines; no such correlation was observed in nontreated cell lines.
These data indicate that neuroinflammatory molecules confer high diffusion anisotropy inside the brain abscess cavity. We propose that increased FA reflects upregulated inflammatory response in brain abscess.