Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is the primary circulating fluid of the brain and is constantly trying to maintain homeostasis within the central nervouw system (CNS). CSF biomarkers have the large potential to improve the diagnosing process, prognosis and monitoring of treatment response of neurological and psychiatric diseases. Markers of interest include monoamine neurotransmitters, inflammatory and metabolic markers. Despite extensive research, a large gap remains between CSF biomarkers proposed in studies and validated and implemented biomarkers in clinical practise. This might be due to the strong variation between studies in study design. One common limitation of exploratory studies is the use of a suboptimal control group due to the invasive lumbar puncture (LP) necessary to collect CSF.
In our pursuit of improving CSF biomarker studies, we have set up a large CSF biobank including patients undergoing spinal anaesthesia for surgery as controls. This thesis of Celien Tigchelaar focused on studying different methods for CSF collection, on CSF composition and on a number of candidate biomarkers for CNS diseases. We have investigated concentrations of various CSF biomolecules in relationship with CSF collection methods, biological variation or CNS disorders. In this way, we aim to extend our knowledge of neuro(patho)physiology and to aid future biomarker research.
