Neuroscience letters
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Neuroscience letters · Jun 1998
Increased interleukin-12 levels in human cerebrospinal fluid following severe head trauma.
An overwhelming intracranial inflammatory response occurs as a consequence of severe head trauma, leading to cerebral edema and secondary brain injury. Cytokines are important mediators of post-traumatic cerebral inflammation. ⋯ The mean IL-12 CSF levels were significantly elevated in all patients in the course of 14 days after trauma, compared to CSF samples from 15 control patients. Assessment of the IL-12 CSF/serum ratio and of the blood-brain barrier function, using the CSF/serum albumin ratio, suggest that elevated IL-12 CSF levels might be in part derived from intracerebral cytokine synthesis.