Abstract
This study examines the effects of corticosteroids on the ultimate survival, virus concentration and neuropathologic changes in mice with herpes simplex virus (HSV) encephalitis.
Swiss white mice were inoculated intracerebrally with 0.01 ml of a 5 × 10−4 dilution of stock Rodanis strain HSV. Virus was injected directly into the right cerebral cortex. Treatemtn was initiated 60 hours after inoculation of virus with either hydrocortisone, corticosterone or placebo. One group of animals was inoculated with virus and left untreated and another group was retained as an uninfected control population. Both preparations were given as 5 mg intramuscular injections every 24 hours for 5 days.
Fifty percent of the infected, untreated animals and an identical proportion of those treated with placebo, died with encephalitis. In the steroid treated group sixty percent of those receiving hydrocortisone died as compared with fifty percent receiving cortecosterone. The differences were not significant.
The study realting virus concentration in brain and neuropathology to serum adrenal corticosteroid levels was done using an identical population of animals with the same inoculum. Groups of 8 animals were sacrificed by decapitation at intervals before and after institution of therapy. The blood was pooled and the plasma separated and stored at −70°C. Steroid levels were measured using the fluorimetric method. Preliminary results revealed a level of 90 μgm/100 ml for hydrocortisone treated animals and 13 μgm/100 ml for untreated animals. Two brains from each of these groups were aseptically removed and made into a 10% suspension for plaque assay. The results will be presented and discussed, stressing the survival data and the interrelationship between steroid concentration and prognosis in this illness.
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Griffith, J., Katz, S. The effects of corticosteroids on experimental herpes simplex virus encephalitis. Pediatr Res 5, 404 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197108000-00138
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197108000-00138