Clearance of some quaternary amines from the spinal subarachnoid space

The spinal subarachnoid space was perfused with artificial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from the low lumbar level to the middle thoracic level or to the cisterna magna in anesthetized rabbits. 3-H-choline, 3-H-methyl-atropine or 3-H-decamethonium with carrier in different concentrations was added to the perfusate together with 14-C-inulin, the latter serving as a marker of the dilution of the perfusate by original CSF. Choline was eliminated from the perfusate partly by a saturable mechanism probably by an uptake into the spinal cord. About 15 per cent of the radioactivity of the choline infused was recovered from the spinal cord mainly as phosphorylcholine, betaine, and phospholipids. Amphetamine decreased the elimination of choline from ventriculocisternal perfusates and partly inhibited the uptake of choline in rabbit choroid plexus in vitro. In contrast, amphetamine did not influence the saturable elimination of choline in the lumbothoracic perfusion. Neither methylatropine nor decamethonium was eliminated from the perfusate by a saturable mechanism in the lumbothoracic perfusions. However, in perfusions including the cisterna magna methylatropine was partly eliminated by such a mechanism. The concentration of radioactivity in fourth ventricular choroid plexa suggested this structure to be responsible for the saturable part of the elimination. In conclusion, there is no active removal of quaternary amines in general from spinal CSF like the choroid plexus mediated clearance from ventricular CSF.