Increased Nervous System‐Specific Enolases in Rat Plasma and Cerebrospinal Fluid in Bilirubin Encephalopathy Detected by an Enzyme Immunoassay

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Abstract
Three forms of enolase isozymes (.alpha..alpha., .alpha..gamma. and .gamma..gamma.), including nervous system-specific forms, were measured in the CSF fluid and the blood plasma of jaundiced or nonjaundiced infant rats by means of enzyme immunoassay systems capable of detecting each form of enolase at the 1 amol (10-18 mol) level. Average enolase levels in the CSF in normal rats were 2.0, 0.2 and 0.1 pmol/ml for .alpha..alpha., .alpha..gamma. and .gamma..gamma. forms, respectively. Levels of .alpha..gamma. and .gamma..gamma. forms (nervous system-specific enolases; NSE) in jaundiced rats, which suffer Purkinje cell degeneration due to the inborn hyperbilirubinemia, were 3-4 times as high as the normal values. When kernicterus was induced in jaundiced rats by an injection of bucolome, the NSE level in CSF was elevated up to > 30-fold the control, together with a significantly higher level of .alpha..gamma. form in blood plasma. Assays of NSE in the CSF or the blood plasma are helpful in detecting neuronal damage in the central nervous system.