Embolic encephalitis in a porcine model of endocarditis

Endocarditis is a severe disease in which neurological complications are frequent and associated with increased mortality and complex disease management. In the present study, the pig was evaluated as a model of embolic encephalitis as a complication of experimental infective endocarditis.

Brains from pigs with experimental Staphylococcus aureus-associated infective endocarditis (IE; n=2), experimental non-bacterial thrombotic endocarditis (NBTE; n=5), experimental S. aureus sepsis without endocarditis (SNE; n=3) and saline controls (n=3), were used. The brains were examined for lesions macroscopically, histologically and immunohistochemically.

Lesions of focal encephalitis were found in the IE and SNE pigs, at considerably higher numbers in the IE pigs. Furthermore, microabscesses were common in the IE pigs, which fits the association between brain abscesses and S. aureus-associated endocarditis in humans.

Experimental porcine S. aureus-associated endocarditis is advantageous for studying neurological complications, such as brain abscess formation, as a result of endocardial bacterial seeding.