Glucose and Oxygen Levels Modulate the Pore-Forming Effects of Cholesterol-Dependent Cytolysin Pneumolysin from Streptococcus pneumoniae.

ABSTRACT: A major Streptococcus pneumoniae pathogenic factor is the cholesterol-dependent cytolysin pneumolysin, binding membrane cholesterol and producing permanent lytic or transient pores. During brain infections, vascular damage with variable ischemia occurs. The role of ischemia on pneumolysin's pore-forming capacity remains unknown. In acute brain slice cultures and primary cultured glia, we studied acute toxin lysis (via propidium iodide staining and LDH release) and transient pore formation (by analyzing increases in the intracellular calcium). We analyzed normal peripheral tissue glucose conditions (80 mg%), normal brain glucose levels (20 mg%), and brain hypoglycemic conditions (3 mg%), in combinations either with normoxia (8% oxygen) or hypoxia (2% oxygen). At 80 mg% glucose, hypox

SUBMITTER: Hoffet MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11209487 | biostudies-literature | 2024 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature