ABSTRACT
Viral infection-associated acute encephalopathy in children is a clinical syndrome with high mortality and neurological sequelae. Its main symptoms of acute phase are impaired consciousness and convulsive status epilepticus with hyperpyrexia. Acute encephalopathy with biphasic seizures and late reduced diffusion (AESD) is characterized clinically by biphasic seizures and late MRI abnormalities such as reduced subcortical diffusion. Despite the intensive care, patients with AESD often have severe neurological impairment and it is very difficult to distinguish AESD from febrile seizures in the early phase. Although there is currently no specific biomarker for early diagnosis of acute encephalopathy syndrome, we believe tau protein and 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) are potential biomarkers which could be useful in following the clinical course and monitoring the efficacy of therapies.
Subject(s)
Biomarkers/cerebrospinal fluid , Brain Diseases/diagnosis , Acute Disease , Deoxyadenosines/cerebrospinal fluid , Encephalitis, Viral , Female , Humans , Infant , Male , tau Proteins/cerebrospinal fluidABSTRACT
Ataxia severity, cerebellar hemispheric blood flow (CHBF), ascorbate free radical (AFR), superoxide dismutase protein, superoxide scavenging activity, and 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were compared before and after an 8-week course of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in 20 patients with spinocerebellar degenerations (SCD). SCD patients showed higher AFR, 8-OHdG, and superoxide scavenging activity than 19 controls. In SCD patients, AFR and ataxia severity declined, and CHBF increased after rTMS. As the SCD patients showed negative correlations between ataxia severity and CHBF or superoxide scavenging activity, the therapeutic mechanism of rTMS may involve decreased oxidative stress and increased CHBF.
