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Hyaluronan in human cerebrospinal fluid
Author(s) -
Laurent U. B. G.,
Laurent T. C.,
Hellsing L. K.,
Persson L.,
Hartman M.,
Lilja K.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
acta neurologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.967
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1600-0404
pISSN - 0001-6314
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0404.1996.tb07052.x
Subject(s) - cerebrospinal fluid , choroid plexus , medicine , pathology , hydrocephalus , lumbar , meningitis , leptomeninges , cyst , csf albumin , lumbar puncture , endocrinology , central nervous system , anatomy , surgery
We studied the concentration of hyaluronan in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in various diseases and attempted to define its reference interval. A radioassay utilizing cartilage proteins with affinity for hyaluronan was used in determining the concentration of 200 lumbar and 27 ventricular CSF specimens and 11 brain cyst fluids. Molecular weight distributions were determined by gel chromatography and localization in brain tissue by histochemistry. The hyaluronan level of lumbar CSF showed an increase with age; comparatively healthy children had (meanSD) 50·41 μg/L (n=40) and adults 166·77 μg/L (n=9); i.e. significantly different values. The highest level was recorded in a patient with meningitis (>8000 μg/L). More than 4000 μg/L was noted in a patient with tumour metastasis in the cerebellum. Significantly elevated levels were especially found with spinal stenosis, head injury and cerebral infarction, but also in inflammatory medical disorders, hydrocephalus and encephalitis. We found no significant increase in multiple sclerosis and some other neurological diseases. Ventricular CSF of adults contained significantly less hyaluronan (53·73 μg/L; n=16) than lumbar CSF. Hyaluronan in cyst fluids varied from 31 to 25,000 μg/L. Weight average molecular weight of hyaluronan in CSF was 2.9–3.0 times 10 5 and in brain tumour cyst fluid 2.4 times 10 6 . In search for the origin of hyaluronan in CSF it was found that its concentration in the choroid plexus and leptomeninges was low, but that hyaluronan was accumulated in the superficial layer of the cerebral cortex. Continued screening for hyaluronan in CSF may be valuable in cases of inflammatory diseases, tumours and obstruction to CSF flow.