The Diagnostic Value of Cerebrospinal Fluid

Dear Colleagues,

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is in direct contact with the brain and extends into the spinal cord. The main functions of CSF are to provide physical stability for the central nervous system (CNS), to actively regulate the CNS by supplying hormones and neuropeptides to it, and to remove various CNS metabolites. Due to its direct contact with the CNS, CSF is of great diagnostic importance. Thus, it can serve as a representative for the state of health of the CNS and provide important information on neurological diseases and disorders, which include for instance dementias (e.g. Alzheimer disease and Parkinson's disease), cerebrovascular diseases (e.g. stroke), neurotraum (e.g. spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury), multiple sclerosis, neuroinfections and brain tumors. The early detection of neurological diseases as well as tools to assess the severity of destruction or predicting recovery is of utmost importance for optimal treatment. Biomarkers such as metabolites, lipids and proteins are suitable for such detections, which can be used as an indicator for biological and pathological processes but also for pharmacological responses to a therapeutic intervention. For a large number of neurological diseases such as meningitis or multiple sclerosis, the examination of CSF is already used for diagnosis and therapy decisions. For other neurological diseases and disorders, however, there is still a lack of diagnostic approaches and therefore there is a great interest in CSF in a scientific context. 

In this Special Issue, we welcome contributions that provide an update on a wide range of topics in CSF diagnostics (e.g. milestones in CSF analysis or the current diagnostic standards). However, this issue also focuses on new and innovative approaches that are important for CSF-based diagnostics.

Dr. Katalin Barkovits
Prof. Dr. Katrin Marcus
Guest Editors

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