title: Cytological examination of cerebrospinal fluid in eight patients with neuro-Behçet's disease.
abstract: In eight patients with Neuro-Behçet's disease cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cells were studied in relation to the clinical symptoms, clinical course and treatment. The results obtained were as follows: (1) The mean value of CSF cell counts was 126 +/- 177/3 mm3 in 88 specimens from the patients, and 2.9 +/- 2.4/3 mm3 in 30 specimens from healthy control subjects, the former being significantly higher than the latter (p less than 0.01). (2) In the patients' CSF, the average percentages of mononuclear and polymorphonuclear cells were 67 +/- 23% and 32 +/- 23%, respectively. (3) In CSF cytogram from 37 specimens from the patients, the average percentage of small lymphocytes was 59 +/- 19%, which was significantly lower (p less than 0.01) than control (71 +/- 8%). The average percentage of activated lymphocytes, activated monocytes and neutrophils which were not observed in control were 0.5 +/- 1.2%. 1.9 +/- 2.2% and 17 +/- 16%, respectively. (4) The ratio of nucleic acids (RNA/DNA) measured by microspectrophotometry (Zeiss UMSP-1) in CSF lymphocytes stained with methylgreen and pyronin was 0.58 +/- 0.12 in 17 specimens from the patients and 0.55 +/- 0.07% in 10 specimens from the control; there was no significant difference between them. These results suggested that the pleocytosis in Neuro-Behçet's disease may represent perivascular inflammatory process in the central nervous system.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D002452:Cell Count; D002555:Cerebrospinal Fluid / Q000166:cytology*; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000032:analysis; D008297:Male; D012313:RNA / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D012313:RNA; D004247:DNA