Purpose: Recent analyses provided evidence that human adult cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in addition to soluble proteins also contains membrane particles that moreover carry the somatic stem cell marker CD133. The significance of CD133 as a potential marker of cellular proliferation, including neurogenesis, remains unresolved. As adult neurogenesis has been implicated to be induced by epileptic seizures this study investigated whether patients with partial epilepsy show a varying amount of membrane-associated CD133 in CSF as compared to healthy adults.

Methods: CSF samples of 34 partial epilepsy patients were analyzed and compared to 61 healthy controls. Following sequential centrifugation up to 200,000 g quantitative immunoblotting was performed using a mouse monoclonal antibody. Antigen-antibody complexes were detected using enhanced chemiluminescence, and visualized and quantified digitally.

Results: The overall amount of membrane particle-associated CD133 was significantly increased in epilepsy patients compared to healthy controls (9.6±2.9 ng of bound CD133 antibody versus 7.4±3.8 ng; p<0.01). There were no differences according to etiology of epilepsy (cryptogenic, neoplasia, dysplasia, ammon's horn sclerosis, and others). Dichotomization of the patients according to temporal versus extratemporal foci revealed a significant increase of membrane particle-associated CD133 in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (10.88±3.3 ng of bound CD133 antibody versus 8.35±3.48 ng; p<0.05).

Conclusion: The increased amount of membrane particle-associated CD133 in the CSF of patients with partial epilepsy contributes to the ongoing debate of the source of these particles potentially emerging from subventricular zone astrocytes serving as neural stem cells. As neurogenesis in adults is related to the hippocampus, the significance of the increase of membrane particle-associated CD133 especially in temporal lobe epilepsy needs further clinical correlation.