Figure 3

Development of pneumococcal meningitis. Graphs (a) to (l) show the development and changes in all included study parameters from 6 to 48 hours after inoculation in infected (n = 29, open circles and solid median line) and control rats (n = 13, black circles and dashed median line). Graph (a) and (b) show median and interquartile range of bacterial counts and WBC counts. Graph (c) and (d) show the steady worsening of clinical disease and deteriorating motor performance among infected animals. The ventricle-brain ratio (VBR) in (e) was subject to marked development among infected rats from 30 hours after infection and all infected rats had increased VBR from 36 hours onwards (P < 0.0001). The number of enhancing cortical voxels (f), indicative of BBB breakdown, was significantly increased among meningitis rats (6 to 48 hours, P = 0.0019). Graphs (g) and (h) illustrate comparable ADC values in cortex and basal ganglia among infected rats with increased variation around the mean values from the control group until 36 hours after infection (P > 0.05). Graph (i) shows decreased areas of high ΔSI_(bolus) muscle (no. of voxels) in infected rats presented as a fraction of the value in corresponding control animals at each time point (P = 0.05). Graphs (j), (k) and (l) show the total number of voxels (enhancing + non-enhancing) in each ΔSI_(bolus) category (P > 0.05).