[Intrathecal synthesis of immunoglobulin G in patients of various ages with acute viral meningitis and meningoencephalitis]

Abstract

Intrathecal antibody synthesis is a common local immunologic reaction in acute meningoencephalitis and encephalitis caused by Herpes group viruses, myxo and paramyxoviroses. The purpose of this study was to determine the quantity of de novo synthesized IgG during 24 hours in the liquor of patients of different ages suffering from acute viral meningitis and meningoencephalitis and to establish correlations between the dysfunction of blood-brain barrier and de novo IgG synthesis. We examined 73 patients of different ages divided into 5 groups according to their age. The state of blood-brain barrier was the most stable with high Qalb values of 225,596 for the youngest (from 2 to 6) and 193,190 for the somewhat older children (from 7 to 15). The most common damage of the blood-brain barrier was established in the oldest group of patients--over 40 years of age. The lowest intrathecal IgG production was established in the youngest group from 2 to 6 (6.631 mg/24 hours), and the highest (64.61 mg/24 hours) at the beginning of the disease in the group from 16 to 25 years of age. We established a correlation between damages of blood-brain barrier and de novo synthesis of IgG, especially in the youngest patients in the first days of the disease as well as 14 and more days later, when a low immunoglobulin production was established but a well preserved blood-brain barrier too. In the group of patients older than 40 years of age such a correlation was not found which points to a tissue synthesis of antibodies in the central nervous system.