Cerebral blood flow autoregulation in early experimental S-pneumoniae meningitis

We studied cerebral blood flow ( CBF) autoregulation and intracranial pressure ( ICP) during normo- and hyperventilation in a rat model of Streptococcus pneumoniae meningitis. Meningitis was induced by intracisternal injection of S. pneumoniae. Mean arterial blood pressure ( MAP), ICP, cerebral perfusion pressure ( CPP, defined as MAP - ICP), and laser- Doppler CBF were measured in anesthetized infected rats ( n = 30) and saline- inoculated controls ( n = 30). CPP was either incrementally reduced by controlled hemorrhage or increased by intravenous norepinephrine infusion. Twelve hours postinoculation, rats were studied solely during normocapnia, whereas rats studied after 24 h were exposed to either normocapnia or to acute hypocapnia. In infected rats compared with control rats, ICP was unchanged at 12 h but increased at 24 h postinoculation ( not significant and P < 0.01, respectively); hypocapnia did not lower ICP compared with normocapnia. Twelve hours postinoculation, CBF autoregulation was lost in all infected rats but preserved in all control rats ( P < 0.01). Twenty- four hours after inoculation, 10% of infected rats had preserved CBF autoregulation during normocapnia compared with 80% of control rats ( P < 0.01). In contrast, 60% of the infected rats and 100% of the control rats showed an intact CBF autoregulation during hypocapnia ( P < 0.05 for the comparison of infected rats at normocapnia vs. hypocapnia). In conclusion, CBF autoregulation is lost both at 12 and at 24 h after intracisternal inoculation of S. pneumoniae in rats. Impairment of CBF autoregulation precedes the increase in ICP, and acute hypocapnia may restore autoregulation without changing the ICP.