Abstract
It has been shown in the monkey infected with poliomyelitis that foreign serum injected intravenously cannot be detected in significant amounts in the cerebrospinal fluid nor in the CNS tissue. 1 , 2 , 3 Other investigators 4-7 using a variety of antibodies in normal and diseased conditions have noted similar impermeability of the blood-brain barrier.
Netter and Debre 8 in 10 cases of meningitis noted the presence of horse serum in the blood of 8 patients less than 20 minutes after intrathecal injection. Stern and Gautier 5 introduced dyes and anti-serum into the spinal fluid and readily detected them in the blood, while the same substances when given intravenously did not appear in significant quantities in the cerebrospinal fluid. McKinley and Holden 9 found B. coli “D” phage filterable from the cerebrospinal fluid into the blood, but not in the reverse direction. Burtenshaw 4 following intraspinal injection of horse antimeningococcus serum observed that it rapidly decreased in quantity in the spinal fluid and quickly appeared in the blood. Within one or two days the cerebrospinal fluid content fell to the low levels attained by parenteral administration alone.
Friedemann, Zuger and Hollander 10 believed that the cerebral capillaries of the guinea pig and rabbit are permeable to antibodies, because in their experiments tetanus antitoxin given intravenously neutralized tetanus toxin injected directly into the ventricles. On the other hand, Ramon and Descombey 11 produced a fatal tetanus in guinea pigs with blood from rabbits which had a few hours previously received intraspinal tetanus toxin. It would seem that Friedemann's, Zuger's and Hollander's results may be explained by assuming that the toxin injected into the cerebrospinal fluid passed into the blood stream and was there neutralized by the circulating antibodies.
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