ObjectiveTo study the the correlations between the level of aquaporin 4 and inflammatory factors, nerve injury indexes in children with hand, foot and mouth disease(HFMD) complicated with encephalitis.

MethodsForty children with HFMD complicated with nerve system involvement were set as the observation group, 40 children with rashes of HFMD were set as the simple HFMD group, and 36 febrile convulsion children without HFMD and encephalitis were set as the control group.The level of aquaporin 4 in cerebrospinal fluid, serum levels of inflammatory factors(including the interleukin(IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-18, C reactive protein(CRP), procalcitonin(PCT) and tumor necrosis factor(TNF)-α and nerve injury index levelsincluding the myelin basic protein(MBP), nerve specific enolase(NSE) and S-100B proteins in peripheral blood were detected.The correlations between the level of aquaporin 4 and inflammatory factors, nerve injury indexes in peripheral blood were analyzed.

ResultsThe level of aquaporin 4 of cerebrospinal fluid in observation group on the second day of admission was higher than that in simple HFMD group and control group(P < 0.01).The level of aquaporin 4 in observation group on the seventh day of admission was higher than that on the second day of admission, and in simple HFMD group and control group(P < 0.01).The differences of the levels of inflammatory factors and nerve injury indexes among three groups were statistically significant(P < 0.01).The results of correlation analysis showed that the level of aquaporin 4 of cerebrospinal fluid in the observation group on the second day of admission was positively correlated with the peripheral inflammatory factors and nerve injury indexes(P < 0.05 to P < 0.01).

ConclusionsThe level of aquaporin 4 in children with HFMD complicated with encephalitis increases in the acute phase, decreases in the recovery phase, and is positively correlated with the inflammatory factors and nerve injury indexes.