Arginine vasopressin levels in cerebrospinal fluid in neurological disease.

Levels of arginine vasopressin have been measured in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid of patients with benign intracranial hypertension and raised intracranial pressure, patients with other neurological diseases and in normal control subjects. There was no difference in blood levels in each of the 3 groups (mean +/- SEM, 2.8 +/- 0.5, 2.5 +/- 0.25, 2.53 +/- 0.4 pg/ml). However, levels of arginine vasopressin in the cerebrospinal fluid in patients with benign intracranial hypertension and other neurological diseases were higher (mean +/- SEM, 0.64 +/- 0.005, 0.61 +/- 0.04 pg/ml), than in the control group (0.49 +/- 0.06), but not different from each other. The origin of arginine vasopressin in cerebrospinal fluid is uncertain and a number of possibilities are discussed.