Total protein and electrophoretic pattern of cerebrospinal fluid in sheep with some common neurological disorders.

Abstract

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples were collected from normal sheep and cases of some common ovine neurological diseases and analysed by agarose gel electrophoresis. Protein fraction concentrations determined from clinically normal sheep of mixed ages were used to establish reference values. The CSF albumin and globulin concentrations were significantly increased in meningo-encephalitis cases (P < 0.05) compared to healthy sheep. The group mean CSF albumin percentage for each of the neurological diseases studied was not significantly different from the mean CSF albumin concentration for control sheep (P > 0.05). In the ovine neurological diseases studied in this series, agarose gel electrophoresis of CSF did not add further to the information already gathered from the total CSF protein concentration.