Adenylate kinase activity and glutathione concentration of cerebrospinal fluid in different neurological disorders

Adenylate kinase activity and glutathione concentration were measured in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 64 consecutive patients admitted for various neurological disorders. These two analyses were performed in addition to conventional examination of the CSF. Neurological symptoms most probably connected in some cases with no and in others with only subtle changes in the central nervous system were linked to no or only moderate activities of adenylate kinase together with no glutathione. 1 patient with meningioma had no adenylate kinase activity at all while 3 patients with malignant brain tumours showed clear activities similar to 3 patients with well established diagnoses of multiple sclerosis. On the contrary, glutathione was absent in CSF of the patients with brain tumours and multiple sclerosis. Various cerebrovascular diseases involving larger areas of the brain tissue resulted in clear adenylate kinase activities in CSF either alone as in 11 of the patients with cerebral infarction or in combination with the appearance of also glutathione as in the remaining 7 patients with cerebral infarction as well as in the 14 patients studied with hemorrhages of the brain.