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Medullasin levels in granulocytes of patients with neurological diseases and healthy volunteers were determined by the enzyme immunoassay using mouse monoclonal antibodies against human medullasin and o-phenylenediamine-H2O2 as the detection system of the enzyme activity. One hundred twenty-one out of 159 patients with multiple sclerosis (76.1%) showed positive results (above means of normals + 2SD) in this test, while only 16.9% (24/142) of patients with non-inflammatory neurological diseases had positive results. This enzyme immunoassay method for medullasin is considered to be an useful paraclinical test for the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.

Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) is a hitherto untreatable, X-linked recessive disorder of the central nervous system characterized by the systemic accumulation of very-long-chain fatty acids. Although various treatments have been proposed, objective evidence of their efficacy is insufficient. This is partly due to the absence of an appropriate method for evaluating the functions of the central nervous system (CNS). In this study, we took up the central motor conduction time (CMCT) as an index of the CNS functions, and measured it in two patients with ALD under steroid pulse therapy to know if this parameter is useful in assessing the effects of therapy. The right and the left motor cortex was stimulated separately with a MAGSTIM 200 magnetic stimulator, using a round coil of 9cm mean diameter to stimulate the hand area or a double cone coil to stimulate the leg area. CMCT, the time an impulse takes to travel from the motor cortex to the anterior horn cells in the corresponding region, was measured by a combination of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and F wave technique. Before treatment, CMCT to the cervical cord was prolonged slightly in both patients; CMCT to the lumbar cord was prolonged slightly in one and moderately in the other. After repeated steroid pulse therapy, a definite improvement, although partial and transient, was observed in either case. TMS thus seems to be useful not only for detecting functional derangement of the pyramidal tract but for evaluating the efficacy of therapy for this disease.

Quantitative assay for fibrin monomer was done by use of a chromogenic substrate (S-2390, Coa set fibrin monomer). Samples from DIC prone patients with the underlying disease were assayed and classified into four groups. The pre DIC group showed higher FM values than the control with no laboratory coagulation abnormality, although the FDP . D-dimer showed no significant rise. FM assay is a useful marker for the detection of early coagulopathy in DIC. Administration of the AT III concentrate in the case of low level of plasma ATIII, thrombin . antithrombin complex I (TAT) caused a significant transient rise. The clinical course of DIC by TAT is often affected by the fluctuation of ATIII level in plasma, the usefulness of FM is that it reflects the real thrombin generation in DIC.