AUGMENTED PRODUCTION OF INTERLEUKIN-8 IN CEREBROSPINAL-FLUID IN BACTERIAL-MENINGITIS

Interleukin-8 (IL-8) elaborated by monocytes and endothelial cells is a cytokine which is responsible for adhesion of leucocytes to vascular endothelium and migration of neutrophils into the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from the intravascular space. The inflammation in meningitis is elicited by the cytokine release from leucocytes which encounter micr o-organisms in the arachnoid or subarachnoid space. In bacterial menin gitis, tumour necrosis factor (TNF), IL-1 and IL-6 are produced vigoro usly, and initiate and augment the inflammation in the central nervous system. In this study, utilizing a quantitative immunometric sandwich enzyme immunoassay, the concentration of IL-8 was investigated in the CSF of patients with bacterial meningitis, patients with aseptic meni ngitis, and patients with gastroenteritis who served as controls. The IL-8 concentration was markedly higher in the CSF of patients with bac terial meningitis (224 +/- 2.57 pg/ml; mean +/- SD) than in the CSF of patients with aseptic meningitis (less than 30 pg/ml). The IL-8 level in the CSF of patients with aseptic meningitis did not differ from th at in the CSF of the patients with gastroenteritis (less than 30 pg/ml ). The augmented production of IL-8 in CSF may account for the inflamm ation in bacterial meningitis being more severe than that in aseptic m eningitis.