Determination of haem derivatives in the cerebrospinal fluid--a semi-quantitative method.

A spectrophotometric method for semi-quantitative determination of oxyhaemoglobin, methaemoglobin and bilirubin in the cerebrospinal fluid is described and evaluated. The method involves correction for CSF protein. It is based on absorbance registrations on three wavelengths; 400, 420 and 470 nm. Reference values for a healthy control group and a hyperbilirubinaemic group are presented. Evaluation of the method shows that it is well suited to semi-quantitative determination of haem derivatives in the CSF.