Gas chromatographic separation and mass spectrometric identification of polyols in human cerebrospinal fluid and plasma.

Seven polyols, erythritol, arabinitol, anhydroflucitol, mannitol, sorbitol, myoinositol and possibly ribitol were identified in human cerebrospinal fluid by means of gas-liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. Quantitative data were obtained for five polyols, arabinitol, anhydroglucitol, mannitol, sorbitol and myoinositol, by screening of 205 CSF samples. These five polyols represented 90-95 per cent of the polyol-concentration which was 340 +/- 105 mumol/1 in the total series. The concentration of polyols in the CSF was two times higher than that in the plasma (148 +/- 30 mumol/1), where only anhydroglucitol and myoinositol could be quantitated. The variations noted were not associated with age, sex or the plasma concentrations of polyols. The polyols of the CSF most likely originate from brain tissue and/or spinal cord since penetration from the plasma against a gradient seems unlikely.