[Superoxide dismutase in cerebrospinal fluid in patients with neurological diseases]

To evaluate significance of superoxide dismutase in neurological diseases, we measured cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of copper-zinc superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn SOD) and manganese superoxide dismutase (Mn SOD) using enzyme immunoassay methods in 181 neurological patients and 43 controls. The mean level of Cu/Zn SOD in CSF of controls was 54.4 +/- 28.7 ng/ml, and that of Mn SOD 8.1 +/- 2.5 ng/ml, although other methods have reported that Mn SOD is undetectable in CSF. Cu/Zn SOD or Mn SOD showed no statistical difference in age or sex of the controls. The elevation of both SOD levels was marked in acute diseases such as cerebrovascular diseases (CVD), bacterial meningitis and encephalitis, but mild in aseptic meningitis. The elevation of Cu/Zn SOD level was more prominent than that of Mn SOD in CVD, whereas vice versa in bacterial meningitis and encephalitis. In neurodegenerative diseases and cervical spondylosis, only Mn SOD level was significantly elevated. To examine the source of CSF SOD, we compared it with CSF levels of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and S-100b protein (S-100b) in cerebral infarction and bacterial meningitis. Both SOD levels were correlated with NSE and S-100b levels in patients with cerebral infarction, but in bacterial meningitis no significant relationship was found among SOD levels, NSE and S-100b levels. This means that elevations of SODs in CSF may be due to not only damage of the nervous tissues but also the other mechanisms, as induction of SOD in the lesions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)