CEREBROSPINAL-FLUID FOLLOWING LIQUOROSORPTION PROCEDURE IN HEROINE ADDICTS

The sorption of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was attempted as a special d etoxifying procedure in a group of sixty heroine addicts. CSF contents of cells, total protein, nucleic acids and interleukin-1 (IL-1), as w ell as acridine orange (AO) binding to CSF cells were determined befor e and after the procedure. The treatment provided immediate clinical i mprovement for 70% of the patients. Clinical effect was accompanied by decreased of CSF cells, diminished nucleic acids and protein amounts, along with increased DNA-AO binding and accumulation of IL-1. These d ata are interpreted in terms of intensive apoptosis of CSF cells and i ncreased acute phase of aseptic inflammation-like events induced by th e procedure of liquor sorption.