FIG. 2.

Time course of the intrathecal immune response in eosinophilic meningitis shown as patterns in Reiber graphs (9, 10). Filled circles represent the data of a patient with eosinophilic meningoencephalitis during the acute phase at the time of the first, diagnostic puncture within 3 days after the symptoms began. Slight blood-CSF barrier dysfunction, i.e., increased Q_Alb, but no intrathecal IgG, IgA, or IgM synthesis, was observed (points are below the hyperbolic discrimination line). Filled squares represent the data of the same patient 7 days later, at the time of clinical recovery. The albumin quotient is almost normal (Q_Alb, <5 · 10⁻³), but an intrathecal three-class immune response is observed (values above the discrimination lines) with dominance of the intrathecal IgM fraction (86%) over the intrathecal brain-derived IgA fraction (42%) and the IgG fraction (22%). For an explanation of the graph, see the legend to Fig. 1.