[Various indicators of serotonin metabolism in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with neurasthenia and cerebral arachnoiditis].

Thirty patients with cerebral arachnoiditis and 26 with neurasthenia were found to have differences in the content of serotonin, 5-hydroxyindoleacetic++ acid and melatonin in the cerebrospinal fluid, which depended in arachnoiditis on the degree of intracranial pressure elevation. The data on serotonin metabolism can be used in objective evaluation of the organic background in neurotic patients and serve for estimating the intensity of hypertension in patients with cerebral arachnoiditis.