CEREBROSPINAL FLUID ENZYMES

Background Our goal was to determine the actual amount of lumbar punctures and spectrum of analyses, particularly on enzyme diagnostics, ordered at the University Clinical Center Maribor in year 2006. As the brain is very rich on glutamate dehydrogenaze (GLDH) we also attempted to discover, if there is measurable GLDH activity in cerebrospinal fluid as there is no reliable data. Brain cellular damage involves enzyme release and increases their activity in liquor in the same way as the damages of other tissues causes the enzyme release in extracellular fluids. As the haemathoencephalic barrier is normally nonpermeable for enzymes in blood does their activity in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) mostly not derive from it. Results There were obtained 1241 lumbar punctures. Proteins and glucose were determined in all CSF samples. We did not determine any enzyme analyses in CSF. 71 CSF samples were analyzed for the presence of GLDH activity which varied form 0-340 nkat/L. Only in five CSF samples we did not find any GLDH activity. Research is still in progress. Conclusions We determined the measurable GLDH activity in the majority (92.96 %) of analysed cerebrospinal fluids. This is a completely new finding. Most of analyzed CSF (32.08 %) belongs to patients with multiple sclerosis and all had measurable GLDH activity. We conclude that determining of GLDH activity in CSF is an important tool for further investigations and probably an useful diagnostic help.