PROTON MAGNETIC-RESONANCE SPECTROSCOPY OF CEREBROSPINAL-FLUID AS AN AID IN NEUROLOGICAL DIAGNOSIS

The proton magnetic resonance (H-1-NMR) spectra were obtained from 38 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from 34 patients with various central nervous system (CNS) diseases and the H2O signals were reduced by the presaturation method. A doublet signal for CH3 protons of lactate, as well as a singlet one for alpha-CH proton of glucose, were clearly detected in all the spectra obtained. The relative lactate concentration values were calculated on the basis of the glucose concentrations which had been measured by a routine laboratory method in the hospital and the ratios of the peak heights (lactate CH3/glucose alpha-CH). In the CSF samples examined, the relative lactate values semi-quantitatively determined in this way were clearly elevated in cerebral infarction and bacterial meningitis, but not in other disorders including viral meningitis. On the other hand, one CSF component whose enhancement was found only in a sample from a hepatic encephalitis patient was identified as glutamine from the double quantum filtered-shift correlation spectrum. These results suggest that H-1-NMR spectroscopy of CSF can become a powerful aid in biochemical diagnosis of CNS diseases.