In vivo demonstration of neuroinflammatory molecule expression in brain abscess with diffusion tensor imaging

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Neuroinflammation
• Infectious Diseases

Background:

• Brain abscesses involve neuroinflammatory molecules like TNF-α and IL-1β.
• These molecules are implicated in the development and progression of brain abscesses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between high fractional anisotropy (FA) in brain abscess cavities and the presence of neuroinflammatory molecules.
• To determine if FA measured by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) can serve as a marker for inflammation in brain abscesses.

Main Methods:

• Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was performed on 24 patients with brain abscess.
• Neuroinflammatory molecules were quantified from abscess aspirates and correlated with DTI-derived FA.
• Experiments were also conducted on Staphylococcus aureus-treated and untreated Jurket cell lines.

Main Results:

• A strong correlation was observed between DTI-derived FA and neuroinflammatory molecules in patient abscess pus.
• Similar correlations were found in S. aureus-treated cell lines, but not in untreated cell lines.
• FA values were significantly associated with the inflammatory markers.

Conclusions:

• Neuroinflammatory molecules contribute to high diffusion anisotropy within brain abscess cavities.
• Increased FA is proposed as an indicator of an upregulated inflammatory response in brain abscesses.
• DTI may offer a non-invasive method to assess the inflammatory state of brain abscesses.