Methods of objectivization of characteristics of cerebrospinal fluid and examples of their use

BACKGROUND: In modern research standards, a semi-quantitative evaluation scale with crosses is used to characterize turbid cerebrospinal fluid samples, where the absence of turbidity is evaluated as a clear cerebrospinal fluid (a variant of norm), and turbidity is evaluated, depending on the severity, by a different number of crosses. This approach is highly subjective. AIM: Development of a simple objective method for assessment of turbidity of the cerebrospinal fluid. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The optimal wavelength was determined by examination of the optical density of turbid samples of barium sulfate at various wavelengths on Stat Fax photometer (Awarenes, USA). Turbidity was standardized using Shank–Hoagland scale. The reference range was evaluated based on the results of 10 measurements of 10 samples of visually unchanged cerebrospinal fluid. At the same time, the stability and reproducibility of the measured parameters were evaluated. RESULTS: The optimal wavelength diabase is the range emitted by red light filter (λ = 670 nm). Stability of cerebrospinal fluid parameters is preserved for 2 hours after its obtaining. The reference range for normal cerebrospinal fluid samples does not exceed 0.1 units of turbidity on Shank–Hoagland scale. CONCLUSION: The presented methods demonstrate the importance and possibilities of objectivization of characterization of the properties of cerebrospinal fluid with use of the proposed method.