[Met-enkephalin in the cerebrospinal fluid as an indicator of central nervous system injury in meningitis and encephalitis].

THE AIM: Assessment of met-enkephalin level in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with inflammatory process of the central nervous system (CNS) was performed to estimate the role of opioid system in viral and bacterial meningitis, and encephalitis.

MATERIAL AND METHOD: The met-enkephalin level, protein concentration and pleocytosis were analysed in the CSF of 53 patients with viral or bacterial meningitis, encephalitis, and in the control group of patients without inflammatory disease of the CNS.

RESULTS

The biggest differences have been observed between the groups of patients with bacterial meningitis and those without inflammatory disease of the CNS, but they were statistically insignificant. There was a lack of correlation between met-enkephalin level and some factors of inflammatory process in CSF, such as pleocytosis and protein concentration. We have not revealed any correlation between etiological agent of CNS infection and opioid system of the brain.

CONCLUSION

Despite the fact that, we observed in the study statistically insignificant changes, we suggest to continue investigations, including additional parameters which are characteristic for the CNS diseases.