International Colloquium on Beta-Trace: Hayaishi

DETECTION BY CAPILLARY ELECTROPHORESIS OF CHANGES IN THE P-TRACE PRO- TEIN LEVELS IN CEREBROSPINAL FLUID FROM PATIENTS WITH CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM DISEASES

Atsushi Hiraoka, Kyorin University School of Health Sciences, Hachioji, Tokyo 192, Japan.

Capillary electrophoresis (CE), which has been noticed as a rapid and simple microanalysis technique for various compounds including pro- teins, was applied to detection of changes in the levels of B-trace protein in cerebrospinal fluid (CSP) from patients with various neuro- psychiatric disorders. Under the conditions employed, a single peak of B-trace protein was observed on the electropherograms obtained by ana- lyses in the ordinary capillary-zone electrophoresis (CZE) mode and changes in its CSF level in association with diseases were detected us- ing an appropriate internal standard. The results of examinations for more than 80 CSF samples by CZE revealed that CSF B-trace protein was increased in a variety of brain organic diseases, such as cerebrovascu- lar diseases, inflammation of brain and/or neninges, degenerative and autoimmune diseases in the central nervous system (CNS), epilepsy, etc., especially in cerebral infarction, inflammatory disorders of brain, nul- tiple sclerosis and uncontrolled epilepsy etc., but not in psychotic disorders, neurosis and peripheral neuropathy. The increase of B-trace protein detected by CZE was frequently independent of elevation of the total protein contents and/or cell count numbers in CSF routine labora- tory tests. It was therefore suggested that CZE is useful to detect increase of B-trace protein in CSF from patients with the brain organ- ic damage which gives no abnormality in CSF routine laboratoryt tests, although no obvious correlation was found between changes in the CSF B- trace protein levels and clinical improvements by the hospital treat- ments, in patients from whom CSF were taken for several times.

Two other CE systems, SDS polymer solution CE and capillary isoelec- trofocusing were also successfully applied to this study. The former was powerful in the quantitative analyses of CSF low molecular weight minor proteins other than B-trace protein (e.g. P2-microglobulin, Y - trace protein, etc.,), while the latter allowed us to separate CSF P- trace protein into some subfraction peaks. Their clinical significances are also reffered.

290 Prostaglandins 1996: 5 1, April