Detection of metabolites by frequency-pulsed electron capture gas-liquid chromatography in serum and cerebrospinal fluid of a patient with Nocardia infection.

Serum (SR) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from a patient suspected of having tuberculous meningitis were submitted to our laboratory for analysis by frequency-pulsed electron capture gas-liquid chromatography (FPEC GLC). The samples were tested for the presence of carboxylic acids, alcohols, hydroxy acids, and amines by methods described previously (C. C. Alley, J. B. Brooks, and D. S. Kellogg, Jr., J. Clin. Microbiol. 9:97-102, 1977; J. B. Brooks, C. C. Alley, and J. A. Liddle, Anal. Chem. 46:1930-1934, 1974; J. B. Brooks, D. S. Kellogg, Jr., M. E. Shepherd, and C. C. Alley, J. Clin. Microbiol. 11:45-51, 1980; J. B. Brooks, D. S. Kellogg, Jr., M. E. Shepherd, and C. C. Alley, J. Clin. Microbiol. 11:52-58, 1980). The results were different from previous FPEC GLC profiles of SR and CSF from patients with known tuberculous meningitis. Both the SR and CSF contained several unidentified compounds that were not previously detected in tuberculous meningitis or any of our other studies of body fluids. Nocardia brasiliensis was later isolated from the patient. Detection of these metabolites by FPEC GLC could prove to be useful for rapid diagnosis of Nocardia disease, and their identification will provide a better understanding of metabolites produced by Nocardia sp. in vivo.

Citramalic acid in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with bacterial meningitis.

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from uninfected patients and from patients with bacterial and viral meningitis was analyzed by gas-liquid chromatography, with use of a flame ionization detector, and by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The resulting profiles were consistent and reproducible. Hydroxy acids were the compounds found in greatest abundance in both normal and infected CSF. Control experiments to establish the sensitivity and efficiency of the extraction and derivatization methods are also presented. Constituents of CSF from patients with bacterial meningitis differed quantitatively and qualitatively from those of CSF from uninfected patients or patients with nonbacterial infections. CSF from seven of eight patients with bacterial meningitis contained citramalic acid, a compound not previously identified in either normal or infected CSF. The implications of these findings are discussed.