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In neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), CSF biomarkers are increasingly studied to evaluate their relevance for differential diagnosis, disease progression, and understanding of pathophysiologic processes.

To test whether biomarkers for axonal degeneration correlated with clinical subtypes and were of use in predicting progression of ALS.

Thirty patients with multiple sclerosis were randomized to 500 or 2,000 mg of methylprednisolone (MP) over 5 days. They were prospectively studied neuropsychologically before and at days 6 and 60 after onset of the therapy, using a double-blind study design. Patients showed selective deterioration of declarative memory retrieval at day 6, which was fully reversible at day 60. Although the sample size was small, these effects were independent of the administered MP dose.