Interpretation of cerebrospinal fluid proteins by gel electrophoresis.

The use of polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) for the separation of proteins in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) results in greater definition than does a "routine" method such as cellulose acetate electrophoresis. Unconcentrated CSF is easily separated into as many as 18 bands by the use of PAGE. By means of a modified PAGE method described in this paper, unconcentrated and untreated CSF is quickly and conveniently analyzed for protein constituents. This modification involves a continuous buffer environment, a pore-size concentration gradient and CSF in amounts of 0.1 to 0.4 ml. Sucrose addition is not necessary in this procedure. Whereas most central nervous system (CNS) disease states do not yield consistently distinctive protein patterns, some diseases, such as vascular disease, infectious meningitis and some metastatic tumors, yield significantly altered patterns. It is suggested that the chief value of CSF protein electrophoresis at the present time is to follow the course of a CNS disease.