Determination of uric acid in cerebrospinal fluid obtained by lumbal puncture. In 1965 Farstad a.o. determined the uric acid content of cerebrospinal fluid obtained 'in connection with pneumencephalography' — presumably obtained by occipital puncture. They found in cases of progressive cerebral atrophy a significant increase of the uric acid content. A twofold origin of this uric acid was postulated: from the blood and from the breakdown of cerebral nucleic acid. In progressive cerebral atrophy the increased catabolism of cerebral nucleic acids should be the source of the increased uric acid content of the cerebrospinal fluid.
We investigated the uric acid content of the cerebrospinal fluid obtained by lumbal puncture from a number of patients suffering from various diseases. No relation between the uric acid content and the disease was found. The uric acid content of the cerebrospinal fluid was found to correlate with the uric acid content of the serum and with the protein content of the cerebrospinal fluid itself. In figure 1 the cerebrospinal fluid uric acid is plotted against the serum uric acid. Figure 2 gives the mean values derived from figure 1. In figure 3 the cerebrospinal fluid uric acid is plotted against the cerebrospinal fluid protein content. Figure 4 shows the mean values derived from figure 3. The uric acid was determined by the enzymatic method of Praetorius. We conclude that the uric acid content of the lumbal cerebrospinal fluid is of no help in the diagnosis of cerebral atrophies.