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(Bito, 1972a,b). Thus CSF, in contrast to plasma (Samuelsson, 1972), might be expected to contain measurable levels of PG. Several studies (White et al., 1971;Denton et al., 1972;Pelofsky et al., 1972;Yamamoto et al., 1972;Nakano et al., 1973;Greenberg et al., 1974;La Torre et al., 1974) have shown that some of them such as PG F2 alpha are potent vasoconstrictor agents on cerebral arteries, while PG of the E type are vasodilators. Cerebrovascular events are followed by the liberation of different vasoactive agents (Wurtman and Zervas, 1974;Lavyne et al., 1975). In our study we found a positive correlation between PG E2 levels in CSF and the severity of a stroke. Patients and methodsSixteen patients suffering from suspected cerebral vascular events were admitted to Ichilov Hospital at random for clinical investigation. The clinical characteristics of the patients and findings of the investigations are summarised in There were seven men and nine women. Eight patients suffered from hypertension, five from diabetes mellitus, three of these had both hypertension and diabetes. Two patients had a history of myocardial infarction.The investigations included clinical examination, laboratory examination with measurement of coagulation factors, ECG, chest and skull radiographs, EEG, and isotopic brain scan in the first week and one month from the event. Four vessels angiography was done in 13 patients. Lumbar puncture was performed during the first 72 hours after admission for routine studies and PG E2 determination. Cerebrospinal fluid without any extraction was used for determination of PGE concentration by radioimmunoassay (Bauminger et al., 1973). No drugs with known anti-PG activities were added to the treatment. The patients were treated only with Hartmann (Ringer lactate) solution and glucose 5%. Manitol and diuretics were used when necessary.The patients were classified into two groups: (a) mild to moderate cerebrovascular accidentpatients who suffered from paresis which improved during one month (five patients), and (b) moderate to severe cerebrovascular accident-patients who developed changes of consciousness and paralysis that did not improve enough during the first month (11 patients of whom five died).The patients were followed up after the cerebrovascular event for nine to 12 months.

SYNOPSIS Prostaglandin E2 (PG‐E2) levels were measured in the saliva of 6 women suffering from common migraine, during an attack, and in the interval between attacks; the results obtained were compared to the levels found in a matched control group of healthy women. There was a significant increase in the levels of PG‐E2 during migraine attack P<0.05. These results may suggest that PG‐E2 takes an important role in the mechanism of migraine.

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