5-Hydroxyindoleacetic acid in the lumbar fluid: a specific indicator of spinal cord injury.

In cats, 19 days after the lower thoracic cord was injllred, the concentrations of 5-hydroxytryptamine and its metabolite 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid in the lumbosacral cord and that of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid in the lumbar fluid decreased. At the same time the concentrations of these substances in the cord above the lesion and that of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid in the cisternal fluid was not significantly altered. Since high concentrations of 5-hydroxytryptamine and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid are present in the human lumbosacral cord, it appears that the concentration of 5-hydroxyincdoleacetic acid in the lumbar fluid of animals and man reflects the biochemical changes of 5-hydroxytryptamine in the spinal cord.