Background: Systemic infections can influence the course of multiple sclerosis (MS), especially by driving recurrent\nacute episodes. The question whether the infection enhances tissue damage is of great clinical importance and cannot\neasily be assessed in clinical trials. Here, we investigated the effects of a systemic infection with Escherichia coli, a\nGram-negative bacterium frequently causing urinary tract infections, on the clinical course as well as on neurodegeneration\nin experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of MS.\nMethods: Rats were immunized with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG1ââ?¬â??125) and challenged intraperitoneally\nwith live E. coli K1 in the preclinical or in the clinical phase of the disease. To ensure the survival of animals,\nantibiotic treatment with ceftriaxone was initiated 36 h after the infection and continued for 3 consecutive days.\nResults: Systemic infection with E. coli did not influence the onset of clinical EAE symptoms or disease severity.\nAnalysis of the optic nerve and retinal ganglion cells revealed no significant changes in the extent of inflammatory\ninfiltrates, demyelination and neurodegeneration after E. coli infection.\nConclusions: We could not confirm the detrimental effect of lipopolysaccharide-induced systemic inflammation, a\nmodel frequently used to mimic the bacterial infection, previously observed in animal models of MS. Our results indicate\nthat the effect of an acute E. coli infection on the course of MS is less pronounced than suspected and underline\nthe need for adequate models to test the role of systemic infections in the pathogenesis of MS.
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