Determination of acetylcholine concentration in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with neurologic diseases

Introduction - Acetylcholine (ACh) is a well known neurotransmitter in the central nervous system, but determining its level in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is very difficult and the origin of CSF ACh is still unknown. In this study, we attempted to measure CSF ACh by a specific and sensitive radioimmunoassay (RIA) from patients with neurologic diseases. Material and methods - Patients with cerebral infarction (n = 7), Parkinson's disease (n = 6), spinocerebellar degeneration (n = 6), Alzheimer's disease (n = 3), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (n = 3) and disc herniation with no central nervous involvement (n = 8) participated to determine the CSF ACh levels. Results - Of these 33 patients, the mean ACh level in CSF was 282.2 ± 61.7 fmol/ml (mean ± SE, range 20-1505.8 fmol/ml). The mean ACh level of spinocerebellar degeneration group was lower than others, but not statistically significant. Conclusion - We conclude that an amount of ACh detectable by RIA is certainly present in CSF.