title: Elevated neurofilament levels in neurological diseases.
abstract: Neurofilaments, a major cytoskeletal constituent of neuronal cells, can be released into the cerebrospinal fluid during several neurodegenerative diseases. By means of a new sensitive ELISA capable of measuring 60 ng/l of neurofilament light, significant elevations were observed for different neurological disorders. Cerebral infarction presented levels of 19800+/-9100 ng/l, amyothropic lateral sclerosis 3600+/-1200 ng/l, 'relapsing-remitting' MS 2500+/-1500 ng/l, extrapyramidal symptoms 1100+/-300 ng/l, late onset AD 300+/-100 ng/l and vascular dementia 1400+/-800 ng/l. In patients with no signs of neurological diseases the upper normal level and cut-off values was determined to be below 100 ng/l. NF-L determinations will be a valuable complement in identifying neuronal degradation and can be used clinically for diagnostic and monitoring purposes.
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D001480:Basal Ganglia Diseases / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006801:Humans; D020529:Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000378:metabolism; D016900:Neurofilament Proteins / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D016900:Neurofilament Proteins