The Origin of Cerebrospinal Fluid Somatostatin: Hypothalamic or Disperse Central Nervous System Secretion?

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Abstract
Two groups of experiments were performed. Diagnostic lumbar puncture was performed in 37 patients admitted for various neurological diseases. Immunological determination of albumin and .gamma.-globulin and radioimmunological analysis of somatostatin [SS] in successive CSF taps demonstrated that while the protein concentration was approximately 20% lower in the 11th ml compared to the 1st ml drawn, the SS concentration was constant. Arginine infusion [i.v.] (30 g/30 min) induced identical patterns of plasma growth hormone [GH] in 8 patients with multiple sclerosis [MS] in relapse, in 6 patients with MS in the stable phase and in 7 patients in whom no neurological disease was eventually diagnosed. CSF SS was significantly lower in the patients with MS in relapse than in the 2 other groups, while CSF GH concentration was identical. There was no correlation between basal or arginine provoked plasma GH and the CSF content of SS. CSF SS is released dispersely from the CNS including the spinal cord and it offers no indication of the activity or tone of hypothalamic GH release inhibiting control of the pituitary gland.