Endogenous and exogenous glucocorticoids in experimental enterococcal infection
Abstract
The potentially protective role of the host adrenal-glucocorticoid response to enterococcal infection was evaluated in an experimental model in which mice were infected intraperitoneally with two distinct Enterococcus faecalis strains (K9 and CP-1). We demonstrated that corticosterone levels in serum and peritoneal-lavage fluid were elevated within 1 hour of infection with either E. faecalis strain. We also demonstrated that adrenalectomized mice generated a more robust localized peritoneal tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) response to both E. faecalis strains than did sham-adrenalectomized mice but that neither E. faecalis strain induced a systemic TNF-alpha response. Further, peritoneal TNF-alpha production in adrenalectomized mice infected with either E. faecalis K9 or CP-1 was suppressed by prior treatment with an exogenous glucocorticoid (dexamethasone). The potential clinical significance of these results was suggested by our findings that adrenalectomy markedly increased susceptibility (a>100-fold decrease in the 50% lethal dose) to lethal infections with E. faecalis CP-1 and that prior dexamethasone treatment partially compensated for adrenalectomy. In marked contrast to these findings, however, adrenalectomy did ...Continue Reading
References
Regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis by cytokines: actions and mechanisms of action
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