Background: Bacterial meningitis is an infection of the central nervous system characterised by strong inflammatory response. The brain is highly dependent on ATP, and the cell energy is obtained through oxidative phosphorylation, a process which requires the action of various respiratory enzyme complexes and creatine kinase (CK) as an effective buffering system of cellular ATP levels in tissues that consume high energy.
Objectives: Evaluate the activities of mitochondrial respiratory chain complexes I, II, III, IV and CK activity in hippocampus and cortex of the Wistar rat submitted to meningitis by Klebsiella pneumoniae.
Methods: Adult Wistar rats received either 10 µl of sterile saline as a placebo or an equivalent volume of K. pneumoniae suspension. The animals were killed in different times at 6, 12, 24 and 48 h after meningitis induction. Another group was treated with antibiotic, starting at 16 h and continuing daily until their decapitation at 24 and 48 h after induction.
Results: In the hippocampus, the meningitis group without antibiotic treatment, the complex I was increased at 24 and 48 h, complex II was increased at 48 h, complex III was inhibited at 6, 12, 24 and 48 h and in complex IV all groups with or without antibiotic treatment were inhibited after meningitis induction, in the cortex there was no alteration. Discussion Although descriptive, our results show that antibiotic prevented in part the changes of the mitochondrial respiratory chain. The meningitis model could be a good research tool to study the biological mechanisms involved in the pathophysiology of the K. pneumoniae meningitis.