CEREBROSPINAL-FLUID MYELIN BASIC PROTEIN-LIKE MATERIAL IN ACUTE MONOSYMPTOMATIC OPTIC NEURITIS

Introduction - Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) may provide markers of severi ty and outcome of optic neuritis. Material and methods - We examined t he CSF from 29 patients with acute monosymptomatic optic neuritis (AMO N) for content of myelin basic protein-like material (MBPLM) and corre lated the levels with results of cranial magnetic resonance imaging. T he length of the time from onset of AMON to the time of CSF collection did not exceed four weeks Results - Only two patients (7%), one of wh om developed an acute myelopathy one month after AMON, showed an eleva ted value of CSF MBPLM. No MBPLM was detected in 6 patients (21%), and other 21 (72%) had detectable levels of MBPLM but below the upper lim it of normal of 0.1 ng/ml. The value of MBPLM was not significantly co rrelated with the interval to CSF sampling from onset of AMON or with severity of decreased visual acuity. The highest values of CSF MBPLM w ere observed among patients with severely decreased visual acuity and among patients with an abnormal MRI (13 of 27 i.e. 48%). Conclusions - CSF MBPLM was rarely abnormal in AMON. However, CSF MBPLM may have po tential value in reflecting disease activity, as the highest values we re obtained among patients with CSF sampled soon after the maximum vis ual dysfunction was reached, with severe visual impairment, and with a n abnormal MRI.