Chemical Aspects of Edematous Brain

Abstract

Some biochemical aspects of human cerebral edema associated with tumor, abscess and vascular disorders have already been described (Cumings, 1961, 1962). These examinations demonstrated that the soluble cerebral proteins, extracted from the brain tissue by 0.3 M sucrose, contained numerous proteins but only included albumin from the area of the edema, which was most frequently in the white matter. The proteins present were at that time visualized following starch gel electrophoresis, while the patterns of a number of different enzymes associated with the various protein fractions were also studied. There were some slight changes in enzyme pattern between the normal and the edematous areas, more especially in the white matter and it was then concluded that when cerebral edema occurred in the white matter in association with either a tumor or an abscess, much of the fluid could be extracellular. Nevertheless, when the edema was associated with a cerebrovascular lesion the findings were equally compatible with some or possibly most of the edema fluid being within the myelin sheath and the myelin cell.