Regional morphology and biochemistry in experimental brain abscesses.

Brain abscesses were induced experimentally in six cats by stereotactic inoculation of Staphylococcus aureus A8 into the white matter of the left cerebral hemisphere. Seven days later, the brains were frozen in situ with liquid nitrogen and subsequently sawn into coronal sections of 5 mm thickness, while being cooled with liquid nitrogen. Thin slices were taken from those sections containing the largest expanse of abscess: slices of 5 micron thickness were stained histologically, and in adjacent 20 micron slices the regional distribution of ATP and glucose was mapped using substrate-specific bioluminescence methods. Furthermore, the NADH fluorescence from the surface of the tissue section was recorded. Six layers could be distinguished histologically in the abscess capsule, five of which showed different substrate patterns. Only in two layers a low metabolic activity could be observed, as shown by slight ATP bioluminescence. The pattern of the biochemical substrates in the white matter surrounding the abscess indicated a reduction in the cellular oxygen availability.