[Activity of lactic dehydrogenase and its isoenzymes in cerebrospinal fluid in infantile cerebral palsy].

The observed group included 91 children aged from 2 to 15 years divided into two groups: I control--25 children, and II--66 children with severe infantile cerebral palsy. The following biochemical investigations were done in the cerebrospinal fluid: total LDH activity and total protein level before and after fluid condensation, and determination of LDH isoenzymes after condensation of fluid. In the group of children with absence of organic lesions of the central nervous system the mean total LDH activity was 17.6 mU/ml, this value was similar to that found by most authors. The isoenzyme pattern in the control group contained 3--4 fractions, the LDH4 fraction was, however, found in 2 cases only. In the group with infantile cerebral palsy the total LDH activity in the cerebrospinal fluid showed a considerable range of variations, its mean value was 32.7 mU/ml and was highly significantly above the mean value in controls. The LDH isoenzyme pattern in this group consisted of 4--5 LDH fractions with a fairly high proportion of cases with LDH4 and LDH5 fractions and with a high absolute activity of these fractions.