Free fatty acids in cerebrospinal fluids from patients with traumatic brain injury.

Free fatty acid (FFA) concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are recognized as markers of brain damage in animal studies. There is, however, relatively little information regarding FFA concentrations in human CSF in normal and pathological conditions. The present study examined FFA concentrations in CSF from 15 patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and compared the data with values obtained from 73 contemporary controls.

Free fatty acids in human cerebrospinal fluid following subarachnoid hemorrhage and their potential role in vasospasm: a preliminary observation.

Object: The mechanisms leading to vasospasm following subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) remain unclear. Accumulation in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of free fatty acids (FFAs) may play a role in the development of vasospasm; however, in no previous study have concentrations of FFAs in CSF been examined after SAH.

Methods: We collected samples of CSF from 20 patients with SAH (18 cases of aneurysmal SAH and two cases of spontaneous cryptogenic SAH) and used a high-performance liquid chromatography assay to determine the FFA concentrations in these samples.