Lymphocyte Subpopulations in Blood and Cerebrospinal Fluid from Patients with Acute Guillain-Barré Syndrome

Abstract

The numbers of T and B lymphocytes were determined in blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 25 patients with acute Guillain-Barré syndrome and from 30 controls. The relative and absolute number of T lymphocytes in blood was decreased in the patient group (mean 48 ± 2% and 947 ± 71/mm³ compared to 66 ± 2% and 1,381 ± 93/mm³ in controls). Correspondingly, the number of B lymphocytes was increased (mean 37 ± 2% and 758 ± 75/mm³ compared to 25 ± 2% and 580 ± 45/mm³ in controls). In the CSF the number of T lymphocytes was increased (85.0 ± 2.2% compared to 76.9 ± 2.4% in controls).