Detection of oligoclonal IgG bands in unconcentrated CSF by isoelectric focusing in agarose gel and silver staining.

We analyzed 102 unconcentrated cerebrospinal fluids from a variety of neurologic diseases for oligoclonal IgG bands by isoelectric focusing in agarose gel followed by staining with silver. Ten to 12 microliter of cerebrospinal fluid containing 0.4-0.8 microgram of IgG was found to be optimum. Cerebrospinal fluid from 38 of 40 patients with clinically definite multiple sclerosis, 6 of 9 with suspected multiple sclerosis and 8 of 53 patients with other neurologic diseases had oligoclonal IgG bands by IEF in agarose followed by immunofixation. The commercial system employed here is a simple sensitive and rapid method for detection of oligoclonal bands in unconcentrated cerebrospinal fluid of patients with multiple sclerosis.