Immunoelectrophoretic studies of cerebrospinal fluid

DURING THE LAST DECADE, a number of new methods have been elaborated for separating proteins in biologic fluids. Most of these methods utilize the principles of electrophoresis and, during the last years, particularly immunoelectrophoresis. Investigations using these new technics have widened our knowledge of the plasma proteins,13 while corresponding analysis of cerebrospinal fluid has been difficult due to its relatively small protein content. The immunoelectrophoretic method described by Grabar and Williams,* and by Scheideggers as a micromethod, provides new possibilities of studying the composition of the cerebrospinal fluid proteins and therefore offers new diagnostic possibilities.6-7 Until a few years ago, the only routine clinical methods available for examination of the cerebrospinal fluid were those for determining the total protein, colloid reactions, and paper electrophoresis. The information obtainable by such methods has proved of little value in the diagnosis of tumors of the central nervous system. With paper electrophoresis, it is possible to determine 7 groups of proteins in the cerebrospinal fluid. Immunoelectrophoresis, however, implies a further advance because, unlike paper electrophoresis, it separates the individual proteins, and not simply groups of proteins, from one another. As yet, more than 30 different protein fractions have been separated in the spinal fluid by immunoelectrophoresis.8