The regional variability of enzymes in the brain: relevance to CSF enzyme determinations.

The assay of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) enzymes has been suggested for assessing the extent of damage and patient prognosis in cases of brain injury. A potential difficulty associated with using CSF enzyme levels as predictors of outcome is the possibility that enzyme concentrations may vary substantially from one brain region to another. We have determined the concentrations of seven enzymes in seven brain regions in the rat and cat. Acid phosphatase (ACP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), isocitrate dehydrogenase (ICDH), lactate dehydrogenase (LD), and malate dehydrogenase (MDH) show little regional variability in the rat and cat while creatine kinase (CK) and glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) both exhibit considerable regional variability in both animals. Lack of correlation between CSF enzyme levels and prognosis may possibly be explained by the observed regional variability. The enzymes demonstrating more homogeneous concentrations throughout the brain may be better candidates for predicting patient outcome by determination of the CSF enzyme level.