[The concept of the immunologic barrier of the brain]. / Kontseptsiia immunnogo bar'era mozga.

Using the technique of a two-layer agar system, the authors cultivated cerebrospinal fluid cells from 9 patients with aseptic lymphocytic meningitis and from 6 clinically healthy subjects. On the 7th-15th day of culturing growth of colonies (cellular aggregates) was detected. Morphologic analysis of the colonies demonstrated that they consisted only of lymphoid and mixed (macrophagal-granulocytic) cells. To study the immunologic function of microglia, the cerebral tissue obtained from 11 patients with cerebral gliomas was cultivated. Antigenic stimulation resulted in activation of microglia cells and in their transformation into macrophages. The precursor cells, T- and B-lymphocytes, their subpopulations, monocytes, macrophages and cells of central nervous system microglia form an immunologic barrier of the brain ensuring the immunologic surveillance in the extra-barrier organ--the central nervous system.

[State of the T- and B-system of immunity in normal cerebrospinal fluid from persons of different age groups]. / Sostoianie T- i B-sistemy immuniteta v normal'noi spinno-mozgovoi zhidkosti u liudei razlichnykh vozrastnykh grupp.

The paper is concerned with studies of the T- and B-immunity systems in the CSF in 37 patients, in whom the CSF was extracted in order to perform spinal anesthesia. This was necessary for surgical operations because of cryptochidism (16 patients aged from 16--30) and hypertrophy of the prostate (21 patients aged from 60 and over). The patients of both groups showed no signs of nervous system lesions. A comprehensive immunomorphological analysis of the CSF cells permitted to detect the medium indices of the T- and B-immunocompetent cells of individuals depneding upon the age.

Autoradiographic studies of cultures of cerebrospinal fluid lymphocytes in nonsuppurative meningitis.

Morphologic and autoradiographic studies of cerebrospinal fluid lymphocytes in nonsuppurative meningitis showed that, in addition to blast cells synthesizing DNA in response to mitogens, blast cells not incorporating thymidine were present. The autoradiographic studies also showed small lymphocytes of the usual sizes incorporating 3H thymidine, indicating that they were in the growth phase of the cell cycle. The magnitude of the response of CSF lymphocytes from patients with tuberculous meningitis to purified protein derivative appeared specific. A response of this degree may be of value in the early diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis.

[Phenomenon of cerebrospinal fluid lymphocyte blast-transformation in several inflammatory diseases of the nervous system]. / Fenomen blasttransformatsii limfotsitov likvora pri nekotorykh zabolevaniiakh nervnoi sistemy

Morphological and autoradiographical studies of leukocyte cultures of the CSF in 20 patients with serous meningoencephalitis of a diverse etiology permitted the authors to establish the following condition. There is a phenomenon of lymphocyte blastransformation under the influence of phytohemagglutinine (PHA) and tuberculin. These data made it possible to suppose of the existence of T2-lymphocytes in the CSF. A correlation between the obtained data and the clinical picture demonstrated that 30-50% of the lymphocytes respond to PHA, irrespective of the etiology of meningoencephalitis, while blasttransformation to tuberculin occurs only in tuberculous meningoencephalitis. The authors attribute an important practical role to these findings for a differential diagnosis between obliviated forms of tuberculous meningoencephalitis and serous meningoencephalitis of a nontuberculous origin. These data give ground to assume that the CSF and the lymphocytes circulating in it form a strong immunological "mobile" barrier to the brain.

[Cerebrospinal fluid T- and B-lymphocytes in serous meningitis]. / T- i B-limfotsity v spinnomozgovoi zhidkosti pri seroznykh meningitakh

By means of PHA-tests and rosette-formation the authors detected in the CSF of patients with serous meningitis T- and B-lymphocytes. They assume that in serous meningitis the penetration of alien antigens into the subarachnoidal space facilitates the migration of T- and B-lymphocytes into the CSF from the lymphoid organs and peripheral blood. On the grounds of these data the authors propose a new concept which assumes that besides the hematoenecephalic barrier, there is also an immunological brain barrier, the morphofunctional basis of which is the CSF with circulating T- and B-lymphocytes and immunoglobulins of different classes.