[The cerebrospinal fluid and neurocysticercosis: evolutional aspects of the cellular inflammatory response]

In order to evaluate the cellular component of the inflammatory chronic response, 357 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from 40 patients with neurocysticercosis (NC) were studied. All patients were treated with usual doses of praziquantel (50 mg/kg/day during 21 days) associated with dexamethasone (12 mg/day). NC diagnosis has been performed considering three basic criteria: the clinical evaluation, the CSF examination, the computed tomography findings. A total of 13 samples from each case for a follow-up period of two years was scheduled. Total cell count, cytomorphologic profile, B and T cells, and T-active, T-sensitized and T-avid subpopulations were considered. T-cell receptor was studied by rosette-forming capacity with sheep red blood cells; normal values were previously characterized in a normal control group. Normal values were demonstrated for B and T-cell levels in the first CSF sample for all cases; no significant alterations occurred during two years evolution. Neutrophil cells, although influenced by previous CSF shunts, could show qualitative indication of improvement six months after treatment. T-active (median: 29.7; range: 8.1 to 59.8) and T-sensitized (median: 44.4; range: 16.0 to 67.0) lymphocyte subpopulations could show effective qualitative and quantitative indications of inflammatory improvement 12 to 15 months after treatment. Regression study as well as Kendall concordance tests were not significative for all components in all samples. This can demonstrate a particular significance and information content for each cellular component of inflammatory response in neurocysticercosis.