Cerebrospinal fluid and serum immunoglobulins and antibody titers in mumps meningitis and aseptic meningitis of other etiology.

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum from 19 patients with mumps meningitis and 19 patients with meningitis of other etiology were investigated on two or more occasions for at least 1 month after onset. Intrathecal synthesis of immunoglobulin (Ig) G was found in 55%, of IgA in 26%, and of IgM in 24% of the patients. Oligoclonal Ig was demonstrable by agarose gel electrophoresis in 37% of the patients, mostly already during the first week after onset, and could persist for years. Mumps virus antibody synthesis within the central nervous system occurred in 37% of the mumps meningitis patients. The inflammatory reaction within the central nervous system as reflected by mononuclear pleocytosis, Ig synthesis, and oligoclonal Ig was not correlated to the clinical course. The blood-brain barrier was evaluated by determination of the CSF total protein, CSF/serum albumin ratio, and CSF/serum alpha2-macroglobulin ratio. A significant correlation was found among these three parameters. Persistence of the elevated CSF/serum albumin ratio seems to influence prognosis, and this parameter is recommended for evaluation of the blood-brain barrier function.