Central Nervous System (CNS) Disorder-related Assays
Introduction
What is CSF and its utility in CNS disorders?
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a clear, colorless fluid that protects the central nervous system (CNS), which is comprised of the brain and spinal cord.
CSF is responsible for supplying nutrients and removing waste products to support cerebral metabolism. Changes in the composition, pressure, or color of the CSF can indicate the presence of specific medical conditions.
For example, in healthy adults, immunoglobulins are present in the CSF in small quantities - an increase in the levels of immunoglobulins in the CSF could be due to:
- Impairment of the blood brain barrier – resulting in leakage of plasma proteins into the CSF
- Intrathecal immunoglobulin synthesis – the production of immunoglobulins within the CSF. This process may occur in response to infections and inflammation of the central nervous system or other neurological disorders
Binding Site offer a complete solution of specialized assays, validated for CSF samples to characterize intrathecal immunoglobulin synthesis or help assess blood brain barrier function.
Complete Solution for CNS Assays
Discover the complete solution for CSF analysis available on the Optilite® special protein analyzer
- Aid in characterization of blood brain barrier dysfunction and intrathecal immunoglobin synthesis
- Provide results from a single instrument, to calculate CSF/serum ratios, using assays designed for measuring paired CSF and serum samples
- The assays are calibrated to international Standards (where one is available)
CNS Assays
Detecting intrathecal immunoglobulin synthesis
Intrathecal immunoglobulin synthesis has been observed in various central nervous system disorders and is strongly associated with CNS inflammation and infections.1
There are several methods for detecting intrathecal immunoglobulin synthesis by analyzing the CSF, including:
- Oligoclonal banding (OCB)
- IgG in CSF
OCB is a well established, gel-based technique to detect intrathecal immunoglobulin synthesis, however it can be challenging to perform:
- Subjective: OCB requires subjective interpretation of the bands by an experienced technician, which can lead to inter-observer variability
- Laborious: As a manual or semi-automated technique, OCB can be difficult and time-consuming to perform
- Not always available: As a specialized technique, OCB is not always readily available in all laboratories
IgG in CSF is another widely used technique. It has a quantitative and automated advantage over OCB as it can be readily performed on automated analyzers. However, this method has inconsistent agreement with OCB results.
