[Total proteins and electrophoretic protein fractions in the juvenile cerebrospinal fluid].

In the CSF of 933 children and young people, total protein (T.P.) and the protein fractions (separated by electrophoresis were found to be definitely dependent on the age of the child, both in patients and normal controls. The highest values of T.P. are found in the first weeks of life. A steep decrease to the lowest values in the second to third year is followed by a slow increase over the next decade until the adult range is reached at the age of about 15 years. Because of the immature blood-CSF barrier and/or blood-brain barrier, the protein fractions of the newborn show a transsudative electrophoresis pattern with high albumin and gamma-globulin, but low prealbumin. Some weeks later, the pattern has completely changed: a transient elevation of beta 1-globulin, followed by elevation of the prealbumin and the alpha 2-fractions, is correlated with a decrease in the albumin, tau- and gamma-globulin fractions. At the age of 12--16 years, adult conditions are nearly reached. When children with various neurological diseases are compared with normal controls of identical age, the pattern of deviations is generally very similar to that observed in adults with the same diseases.