Thesis (M. Sc. Vet. Sc.)--Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, 2005. / Bibliography: leaves 165-172.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2005. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Thesis (M.Sc.). / Written for the Dept. of Biochemistry. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/05/29). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Sc. Vet. Sc.)--University of Sydney, 2005. / Title from title screen (viewed 27 May 2008). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Veterinary Science to the Faculty of Veterinary Science. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Vita. "December 2007" Includes bibliographical references.

Zugl.: Berlin, Freie Universiẗat, Diss., 2009. / Auch als Online-Ressource: http://www.diss.fu-berlin.de/diss/receive/FUDISS_thesis_000000012680.

München, Techn. Univ., Diss., 2004.

München, Techn. Univ., Diss., 2004.

Inflammation in the absence of infection (sterile inflammation) is a crucial host defence response to tissue injury, but is also considered to contribute to the pathogenesis of many diverse disease states, including stroke. Sterile inflammation is initiated by damage associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) which are endogenous molecules released from necrotic cells or that are modified during disease. The pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1α and IL-1β are key mediators of inflammation. IL-1β release is controlled by caspase-1 which, in turn, is regulated by the inflammasome. The NOD-, LRR-, pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome is most typically associated with sterile inflammation and the recognition of DAMPs. Thus, understanding the mechanisms of NLRP3-activating DAMP-induced inflammation may lead to the identification of novel therapeutic targets with which to treat inflammatory diseases. This thesis sought to determine how NLRP3-activating DAMPs affect the pro-inflammatory response of glia, the immune cells of the brain. Experimental models in vitro typically use a pathogen associated molecular pattern (PAMP) such as LPS to prime cells before observing their response to NLRP3-activating DAMPs. As the brain is protected by the blood brain barrier (BBB), it is unlikely glia would be exposed to PAMP priming. However it remains unclear as to how glia respond to NLRP3-activating DAMPs in the absence of priming, or what the source of endogenous priming is. Therefore, the initial hypothesis was to investigate the pro-inflammatory response of mixed glia in vitro to NLRP3-activating DAMPs in the absence of PAMP priming. It is shown here for the first time that NLRP3-activating DAMPs can initiate an IL-1-NLRP3-independent inflammatory response in mixed glia in the absence of PAMP priming. Moreover, it is shown that the acute phase protein serum amyloid A is elevated in plasma after stroke and may act as an endogenous priming signal to allow IL-1β-dependent inflammation to contribute to the damage after breakdown of the BBB.Inflammation following acute sterile injury such as stroke is augmented by persisting cell death. It was therefore hypothesised that NLRP3-activating DAMPs released after the initial injury, may initiate a form of programmed cell death that continues to drive inflammation. Using inhibitors of specific types of cell death, it was identified that NLRP3-activating DAMP induced cell death is likely to be necrosis and not programmed cell death. Further investigation into the biological importance of DAMP-induced IL-1-independent inflammation and the specific contribution of acute phase proteins to brain pathology may aid the identification of new therapeutic targets.

Melioidosis is an important cause of community-acquired sepsis, endemic to Southeast Asia and Northern Australia. Melioidosis is caused by the soil saprophyte, Burkholderia pseudomallei, a motile Gram-negative bacillus, and is associated with a mortality rate that approaches 50% in Northeast Thailand. The most important risk factor for melioidosis is diabetes mellitus, and two-thirds of all adult patients with melioidosis have diabetes as a risk factor. It has been noted previously, however, that patients with diabetes have lower mortality than patients without diabetes. In this dissertation, we look at a cohort of 1160 consecutive adult melioidosis patients presenting to Sappasithiprasong Hospital in Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand, 410 (35%) of whom were diagnosed with diabetes prior to admission. We confirmed previous findings that diabetes protected from mortality in melioidosis, but also found that this protective effect was confined to a smaller subset of patients (208 patients) who were treated with glibenclamide prior to admission. Patients with hyperglycaemia (but no diagnosis of diabetes prior to admission) had the same mortality rate as patients without diabetes. In vitro experiments found no inhibitory effect of glibenclamide on bacterial growth, and we therefore looked for evidence of an effect of glibenclamide on the host. We conducted a gene expression study of circulating blood leukocytes in melioidosis patients and compared them to uninfected controls. In this study, we found that glibenclamide was associated with an anti-inflammatory effect on the host response to melioidosis. To further elucidate a mechanism for the action of glibenclamide, we studied the effect of glibenclamide therapy in a mouse model of melioidosis and found that the effect of glibenclamide was specific to interleukin-1β secretion. This reduction in interleukin-1β secretion was associated with reduced cellular influx into the lungs as well as lower bacterial loads in blood, liver and spleen.