CEREBROSPINAL FLUID GAMMA GLOBULIN CONCENTRATION IN MYXEDEMA*

Abstract

The concentrations of gamma globulin and total protein in the cerebrospinal fluid of normal and myxedematous subjects were determined by a modification of the tyrosine equivalence method. In 10 of 14 patients with myxedema, there was an elevation of the gamma globulin/total protein ratio not attributable to serum hypergammaglobulinemia. In 4 of these cases, an elevated concentration of spinal fluid gamma globulin was present despite a normal level of total cerebrospinal fluid protein. These data cast doubt on the hypothesis that permeability of the blood-cerebro-spinal fluid barrier to serum proteins accounts for the elevation of spinal fluid protein in myxedema.