Small cisterno-lumbar gradient of phosphorylated Tau protein in geriatric patients with suspected normal pressure hydrocephalus

BACKGROUND: The composition of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is not homogeneous, and concentrations of proteins from different origins diverge among ventricular, cisternal and lumbar CSF fractions. Concentrations of blood-derived proteins increase and of brain-derived proteins decrease from ventricular to lumbar fractions. We studied whether the origin of the CSF portion analysed may affect results in CSF analysis for dementia. METHODS: In 16 geriatric patients with suspected normal pressure hydrocephalus [age 82.5 (76/87) years; median (25th/75th percentile)] a lumbar spinal tap of 40 ml was performed. The CSF was sequentially collected in 8 fractions of 5 ml with the 1st fraction corresponding to lumbar CSF, the 8th to cisterna magna-near CSF. Fractions were analysed for total protein, albumin, Tau protein (Tau), phosphorylated Tau (pTau), Amyloid beta 1–42 (Aβ1–42), Amyloid beta 1–40 (Aβ1–40), and the Aβ1–42/Aβ1–40 ratio. RESULTS: The concentrations of total protein and albumin increased from cisternal to lumbar fractions due to diffusion-related accumulation from blood to CSF with significantly higher concentrations in fraction 1 compared to fraction 8. The concentrations of Tau showed a non-significant trend towards decreased values in lumbar samples, and pTau was slightly, but significantly decreased in the lumbar fraction 1 [26.5 (22.5/35.0) pg/ml] compared to the cistern-near fraction 8 [27.0 (24.2/36.3) pg/ml] (p = 0.02, Wilcoxon signed rank test). Aβ1-42, Aβ1-40, and the Aβ1-42/Aβ1-40 ratio remained almost constant. CONCLUSIONS: According to the flow-related diverging dynamics of blood-derived and brain-derived proteins in CSF, the concentrations of Tau and pTau tended to be lower in lumbar compared to cisternal CSF fractions after a spinal tap of 40 ml. The differences reached statistical significance for pTau only. The small differences will not affect clinical interpretation of markers of dementia in the vast majority of cases. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12987-016-0039-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.