engleski

Clinical Implications of protein gradient in the lumbar cerebrospinal fluid.

Introduction: Concentration gradients for proteins between ventricular, cisternal and lumbar cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) have been demonstrated. However, although a gradient for total protein along the CSF system has been well established, the gradient for total protein along the lumbar sac has not been well studied. Patients: To determine concentrations of total protein in the lumbar sac 20 ml of lumbar CSF were collected during a lumbar puncture of 25 patients with communicating pressure hydrocephalus (11 patients with normal pressure hydrocephalus and 14 patients with atrophic hydrocephalus). The first, the fifth, the tenth, the fifteenth, and the twentieth ml of the lumbar CSF were separated into test tubes for total protein measurement using the colorimetric (pyrogallol red) method. The Student- t test for paired data was used for statistical evaluation. Results: Our results showed statistically significant different concentrations of total protein between the first and the twentieth ml of lumbar CSF. Conclusion: These results indicate that lumbar CSF is not a homogeneous fluid and that during a lumbar puncture standardized volume of the lumbar CSF should be obtained for protein analysis.

CSF; protein gradient; clinical implications

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