Origin, proliferation, and fate of cerebrospinal fluid cells. A review on cerebrospinal fluid cell kinetics.

Four aspects of cytokinetic investigations of cerebrospinal fluid cells were reviewed: the origin of these cells, their ability to divide, their fate, and the alterations occurring under pathologic conditions. Animal experiments and in vitro reactions of human cerebrospinal fluid cells indicated that, under normal and pathologic conditions, blood lymphocytes and blood monocytes are capable of leaving the vascular system inside the subarachnoid space. When these cells are located extravascularily, they seldom divide in the subarachnoid space under normal conditions. Migration via lymphatic pathways is possible, at lest under pathologic conditions. Cell turnover, as a whole, is extremely low under normal conditions. It is markedly altered by meningeal inflammation and meningeal tumor cell dissemination. Diagnostic significance other than morphology cannot yet result from cytokinetic investigations of cerebrospinal fluid cytology; prognostic significance may be possible.