Protein-Cell Dissociation

Protein-cell dissociation.

Protein-cell dissociation (PCD) is an increased content of protein (protein fraction) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) with a normal or slightly increased cell concentration. This feature is very characteristic of various forms of tumors of the spinal cord (tumors of all parts of the spinal cord), intracranial meninges, intramedullary tumors, cerebellum, damage to the spinal column, spinal hydrops, cerebral atrophy, myeloid leukemia, etc. Sometimes BCD can occur in healthy people, it is always indicates the presence of a pathological process and often leads to an erroneous diagnosis. Most authors distinguish between eosinophilic BCD (with an increased content of pleocytic cells) and basophilic (increased content of protein molecules), but it is not always possible to distinguish them. Sometimes, according to the results of liquor studies, these features can be confined not to one part of the spinal cord or brain, but to a number of specific segments of the brain column. The exudation of protein from the cerebrovascular bed (mainly the pituitary gland, ependyma) observed with CDD leads to the accumulation of proteins in the cerebrospinal fluid. Its more rapid depletion is caused by the formation of secondary products of tissue decay in the oncosphere of tumors, i.e. liquor poisoning. Signs of CSD are centrifugation of the cerebrospinal fluid (it allows one to detect a greater number of malignant cells compared to the content of normal components of the neuroglial cell series - neurons, polymorphs, macrophages; the results of a morphocytological study of the bone marrow clearly correlate with the cerebrospinal fluid), the presence of an acute bacterial or viral infection of the spinal cord roots, results of immunoselective block and more; to limit the amount of protein, methods of neuronal organ culture and microsurgical interventions are used. BCD in inflammatory-dystrophic processes helps improve the rheological properties of the cerebrospinal fluid and reduce the volume of the bladder