Elevated Levels of Proinflammatory Cytokines Interleukin-1beta, Interleukin-6, and Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha in Rats after Kainic Acid-induced Seizures / 대한간질학회지

PURPOSE: The cerebral inflammatory reactions accompanied with epilepsy could play a role in intervening the possible changes of cerebral molecular structure during or after seizure. This study was intended to examine how much proinflammatory cytokines like interleukin (IL)-1beta, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha are expressed in animal model with seizures of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy and how their concentration in serum changes on the basis of phase, so that it could determine possible association between the development of epileptic seizures and the expression of cytokines. METHODS: Twenty Sprague-Dawley rats as experimental group had kainic acid (KA) administered intraperitonealy, and then, their behavioral patterns were monitored and recorded. In 4 and 24 hours after KA was administered, their bloods were taken respectively to determine the concentration of cytokines. The serum concentrations of IL-1beta, IL-6 and TNF-alpha were measured by means of enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The concentrations of IL-1beta, IL-6 and TNF-alpha were compared with controls, and also the phased variations of their concentration were determined. RESULTS: All rats in experimental group revealed various behaviors and seizure reactions. The serum concentrations of IL-1beta, IL-6 and TNF-alpha taken from rats in 4 and 24 hours after KA administration were more significantly increased than controls respectively (p<0.01). There was no significant variation in concentration of IL-1beta and IL-6 based on time phase, but there was significantly higher concentration of TNF-alpha in serum taken in 24 hours after KA administration than in 4 hours (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: These results show that seizure activity causes the elevation of proinflammatory cytokines and activates inflammatory reactions.

Automatic respiratory failure after medullary infarcts

Ondine's curse refers to the failure of automatic breathing during sleep associated with preservation of voluntary respiratory controls. This syndrome of Ondine's curse usually result from both bilateral and unilateral medullary tegmental infarcts. We report a case of a 56-year old hypertensive man who showed automatic respiratory failure during sleep and bilateral medullary infarcts in brain MRI.

A Case of Bilateral Cavernous Sinus Mucormycosis

Rhinocerebral mucormycosis, which is a fulminant and progressive disease often seen in debilitated hosts! Requires a high degree of clinical suspicion to promptly diagnose and an aggressive medical and surgical therapy. The prognosis is grave, especially in case of bilateral cavernous sinus thrombosis. We report a case of 69-year-old female patient with bilateral cavernous sinus thrombosis caused by rhinocerebral mucormycosis, who showed orbital swelling and lateral bulging of bilateral cavernous sinus in orbital CT, and large branching nonseptate hypae in biopsed specimen of the left periorbital necrotic tissue.