TWO-DIMENSIONAL GEL-ELECTROPHORESIS OF CEREBROSPINAL-FLUID IMMUNOGLOBULINS

With the aid of two-dimensional electrophoresis, the immunoglobulins (Ig) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were separated into heavy and light chains and visualized with silver staining. CSF from 36 patients with no abnormal immunologic activity in the central nervous system show a constant pattern of light chain subfractions, however varying strongly in their respective quantities. In 40 patients with inflammatory diseases such as confirmed multiple sclerosis (MS) (n=10), neurosyphilis (n = 6), lymphocytic meningoradiculitis (n = 3), novel immunoglobulins appear and form a so-called oligoclonal zone in the light chain region. By comparing various oligoclonal zones, differences were found between the arrangement of the novel Ig light chains and the polyclonal light chain background. In the region of the polyclonal light chain background certain protein fractions appear which are non-immunoglobulin and which are not found in serum. The protein fraction at the isoelectric point of 7.8 appears in 9 out of 10 confirmed MS cases, but in none of the 6 neurosyphilis and 3 lymphocytic miningoradicultis cases. In one case of neurosyphilis with an extremely high gamma-globulin content in CSF we found an oligoclonal zone in the heavy chain region.