CSF Proteins as Discreminatory Markers of Tubercular and Pyogenic Meningitis.

Introduction: Meningitis is still a major cause of illness in many parts of the world. Though substantial improvement has been occurred in the diagnosis of meningitis, conclusive differentiation between tubercular and pyogenic meningitis remains to be an unsolved problem. Patients with meningitis often have severe neurological deficit or die inspite of antibiotic therapy. Thus, improvement in diagnostic test and therapy is required. The objective of the present study was to find a simple biochemical marker for diagnosis of meningitis and differentiation of tubercular and pyogenic meningitis.

Materials And Methods: CSF samples were collected from 90 paediatric patients from Nilofer Hospital, Hyderabad, India, from age group of 4 months to 12 years. CSF samples were collected by performing Lumbar Puncture under aseptic conditions and with required precaution. CSF samples were divided into 3 groups where Group 1 included Control that was without CSF inflammation, Group 2 with Tuberculous Meningitis & Group 3 consisting of Pyogenic Meningitis with 30 samples in each group. Electrophoretic analysis of CSF proteins was performed which separated as bands of pre-albumin, albumin, alpha, beta and gamma globulins.

Result: Protein content in CSF was 259 ± 409 mg/dl in tuberculous meningitis, whereas in pyogenic meningitis it was 111 ± 83.94 mg/dl and in control group was 19 ± 13.3 mg/dl. Electrophoretic analysis revealed pre-albumin band to be 2.8 ± 1.2 % in tuberculous meningitis, which was significantly decreased when compared with control and pyogenic meningitis. Albumin band in tuberculous meningitis was 34.8 ± 9.9 %, which was also significantly decreased when compared to control and pyogenic meningitis. Alpha band was 19.7 ± 6.9 % in pyogenic meningitis, but in control and tubeculous meningitis it was 10.4 ± 2.9% and 10.3 ± 5.2% respectively. Beta band was found similar in all the three groups. Gamma band was 33.2 ± 8.08% in tuberculous meningitis, 13.8 ± 4.55% in control and 16.7 ± 13.18% in pyogenic meningitis.

Conclusion: Pre-albumin band was found to be decreased and gamma band was shown to be increased in tuberculous meningitis. Alpha band was increased in pyogenic meningitis. Thus, CSF protein fraction separated and quantitated by native Polyacrylamide slab gel electrophoresis, could be used as markers in differentiation of tubercular and pyogenic meningitis.