ELEVATED CEREBROSPINAL-FLUID LEVELS OF MANGANESE SUPEROXIDE-DISMUTASEIN BACTERIAL-MENINGITIS

We examined the mechanism of increase of manganese superoxide dismutas e (Mn SOD) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in bacterial meningitis (B M). The elevated levels of Mn SOD in the CSF in BM, measured with an e nzyme immunoassay method, were more prominent than those in aseptic me ningitis (AM) and encephalitis (EN). In AM and EN Mn SOD levels well c orrelated with levels of neuron-specific enolase and S-100b protein, w hich are markers of damages to nervous tissues, but did not with any o f them in BM. CSF concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a lpha) and interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha) were higher in BM than in A M and EN. From the serial measurements in BM, the peak values of these cytokines chronologically preceded or corresponded to those of Mn SOD . Immunohistochemically, a large number of the glial cells were staine d for Mn SOD in the cerebral cortex from a patient with BM. By contras t, in the normal cerebral cortex, the glial cells were negative for Mn SOD staining. These results suggest that the marked increase of Mn SO D in the CSF in BM may be related to the increase of such cytokines as TNF-alpha and IL-1 alpha and that these cytokines may play a role in the induction of Mn SOD in nervous tissues.