Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and vitamin E in serum and cerebrospinal fluid from patients with cerebral apoplexy.

Thiobarbituric acid (TBA) reactive substances in serum and cerebrospinal fluid from patients with cerebral apoplexy were determined and their relationship to this disease was studied. TBA reactants in serum were elevated in patients with cerebral apoplexy, but there was no difference between patients with brain tumor or other neurological disease and healthy persons. TBA reactants in cerebrospinal fluid in patients with cerebral aneurysm, cerebral arterial and venous anomalies or intracerebral hematoma, and its levels in patients with cerebral infarction or brain tumor were also higher than in healthy persons. Serum alpha-tocopherol levels were elevated in patients with cerebral infarction, but were relatively low in patients with cerebral aneurysm, cerebral arterial and venous anomalies or intracerebral hematoma. The reverse was the case with cerebrospinal fluid levels of alpha-tocopherol. That is, the sequence of decreasing level of alpha-tocopherol in cerebrospinal fluid was intracerebral hematoma, cerebral aneurysm, cerebral arterial and venous anomalies, and cerebral infarction. The levels of TBA reactive substances in patients with cerebral apoplexy showed a positive correlation between serum and cerebrospinal fluid, and the levels of alpha-tocopherol showed a similar correlation.