Presence of aldosterone-like immunoreactivity in cerebrospinal fluid in normotensive subjects

Accumulating evidence, including a wide distribution of specific receptors for aldosterone in the brain, has revealed a potential role of aldosterone in the central nervous system. However, whether or not aldosterone is present in cerebrospinal fluid remains unclear. We attempted to detect aldosterone in cerebrospinal fluid in 14 normotensive subjects. Cerebrospinal fluid was obtained by lumbar puncture. Aldosterone-like immunoreactivity was detected in cerebrospinal fluid (163 +/- 5 pmol/l, range 139-211 pmol/l) and was found to significantly correlate to both plasma aldosterone (r = 0.70, p less than 0.01) and plasma renin activity (r = 0.68, p less than 0.01). However, no significant relationship was found between aldosterone-like immunoreactivity in cerebrospinal fluid and the level of sodium or potassium in cerebrospinal fluid or mean blood pressure. Although we confirmed the presence of aldosterone-like immunoreactivity in cerebrospinal fluid of normotensive subjects, the physiological role of aldosterone in cerebrospinal fluid has yet to be elucidated. Further study will thus be needed to determine the role of cerebrospinal fluid aldosterone.