CEREBROSPINAL-FLUID FROM PATIENTS WITH PARKINSONS-DISEASE ALTERS THE SURVIVAL OF DOPAMINE NEURONS IN MESENCEPHALIC CULTURE

We have previously demonstrated that extracts of striatal tissue from patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) increase the survival of dopami ne neurons in mesencephalic cultures relative to striatal extracts fro m control patients. In the present study, ventricular cerebrospinal fl uid (vCSF) from patients with PD, Alzheimer's disease (AD), and age-ma tched controls was similarly assessed. vCSF samples were separated int o >10-kDa and <10-kDa fractions. Cultures incubated with the >10-kDa f ractions from PD and AD patients contained 73 and 13%, respectively, m ore tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactive neurons than cultures incubate d with vCSF from age-matched controls. This trophic activity was posit ively correlated with the trophic activity present in striatal extract s from the same patients. The <10-kDa vCSF fractions from all patient groups inhibited culture growth. These data suggest that the trophic e nvironment in the striatum is altered in PD and can be successfully mo nitored in CSF. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.