Study of lipids in cerebrospinal fluid

Abstract

An analytic scheme is presented for the duplicate determination of cephalins, cephalins plus lecithin, sphingomyelin, total phospholipid, total sphingolipid, total cholesterol, free cholesterol, and total lipid in 10 cc of cerebrospinal fluid. From these determinations, the lecithin, cerebroside, cholesterol ester, total phospholipid, and neutral fat concentration can be calculated. The tests of the method were briefly reviewed. The average, the s.e.m., and the range were given for these lipids in 27 healthy men and women 20 to 34 years old. Sphingomyelin, total phospholipid, and total lipid were significantly higher in men than in women; free cholesterol was lower in men. The rest of the lipid fractions were similar in both groups. These data confirm certain reports in the literature that lumbar cerebrospinal fluid from normal individuals contains such lipids as cholesterol and phospholipids. In addition, our data indicate for the first time that cephalins, lecithin, sphingomyelin, cerebroside, and neutral fat are also present in normal spinal fluid. The lipids in the normal spinal fluid were compared to those in normal fasting serum. On the average, the lipids in the serum were 514 times more concentrated. Furthermore, a similarity was apparent in the per cent distribution of the lipids in normal spinal fluid and serum. However, if the data were expressed in terms of micrograms of lipids per milligram of protein, the differences between the various lipids in serum and spinal fluid were approximately 2.