Difference in early development of presumed monozygotic twins with Rett syndrome

Normal early development has generally been insisted on as an essential criterion for the diagnosis of Rett syndrome. A new set of monozygotic female twins is reported. Twin 1 was considered to be abnormal from birth while delay was not suspected in twin 2 until she was about one year old. Some regression occurred during the second year in both twins, who are now clinically indistinguishable from each other at age 4 years. Other than a slight difference in head circumference at birth, no environmental factor which could account for the clinical difference has been identified.

Multiple sulfatase deficiency: clinical, neuropathological, ultrastructural and biochemical studies

We describe the clinical, pathological, ultrastructural and biochemical features in the case of a 15-year-old boy with multiple sulfatase deficiency. Clinical abnormalities included hypotonia, retarded psychomotor development, hepatosplenomegaly, pigmentary degeneration of the retina, myoclonic seizures, aortic insufficiency and quadriplegia. Urinalysis revealed increased heparan sulfate. At necropsy, aortic and mitral valves revealed nodular thickening and periodic acid-Schiff (PAS)-positive, metachromatic granules in renal proximal tubules. The brain weighed 400 g and demonstrated cerebral and cerebellar atrophy with a retrocerebellar meningeal cyst. Cortical neurons contained periodic acid-Schiff-positive and cresyl violet-reactive granules. White matter demonstrated brown metachromasia and intense fibrillary gliosis. Conjunctival fibroblasts contained amorphous vacuoles with dense osmiophilic nucleoid cores. Pleomorphic extracellular, intraneural and intraglial inclusions were noted in the brain. Activities of arylsulfatase A, B and C were diminished markedly in autopsied tissue from brain, liver, and kidney (0, 0 and less than 10% of control activities, respectively). Partial deficiencies of iduronate sulfatase and heparan sulfatase were noted in different tissues. Variable decreased enzyme activities were expressed in leukocytes: arylsulfatase A, less than 33%; B, 40%; and C, 90%; heparan sulfatase, 2%; and iduronate sulfatase was not detectable. Near normal activities were found in cultured fibroblasts.

Ninety-five percent splenectomy for massive splenomegaly: a new surgical approach

Subtotal splenectomy for children with Gaucher's disease has been a major contribution. When spleens of massive size are mobilized for partial resection, it may be technically difficult to remove more than 80% to 85% and still maintain hilar blood supply. The short gastric vessels are enlarged in patients who have marked splenomegaly and provide sufficient vascularity to support the 5% of remaining spleen that is desired in these patients. When the upper pole of the spleen is retained, as in the present case, the cut surface is relatively small and hemostasis is technically easier to achieve than when resection is performed closer to the center of the spleen.

The Rett syndrome in males

Two young males in their thirties are reported with a clinical history and examination indistinguishable from typical females with the Rett syndrome. Both had normal early development. The first patient had a regression by the end of the second year. He was late in walking, had prominent hand-wringing from the age of 4 years, and non-progressive dystonia from the age of 14 years. He is still ambulatory. Seizures which started at the age of 18 months have been easily controlled. The second patient has had a severe seizure disorder since the age of 7 months. In his early teens, he lost ambulation and his height and weight fell below the 2nd percentile. He has severe foot dystonia without spasticity. Both patients have a normal head size and no evidence of atrophy on a CT scan of the brain. Both had kyphoscoliosis in their teens. It is difficult to evaluate the incidence of such cases. Little attention being paid to the normal early development, they hide behind vague diagnoses such as cerebral palsy, static encephalopathy, and behavior disorder. Dystonia is often confused with spasticity, the lack of paralysis is not appreciated, apraxia and hand wringing are assumed to be self-stimulatory behaviors.

Diagnosis and treatment of typical and atypical forms of lipopigment storage disorders

Lipopigment storage disorders are common lysosomal diseases of unknown etiology. Four classic types have been delineated on a clinical basis, focused on the age of onset, visual and retinal impairment, epilepsy and progressive loss of mental and motor abilities. Lipopigments with ultrastructural characteristics distinct from lipofuscin accumulate mostly in the nerve cells but in many other cell types as well. Excess dolichol can be demonstrated in tissues and urine, but no primary accumulating substrate has been identified. Many cases with atypical features or course cannot be currently classified. Medical treatment includes, in all types, prevention of aspiration pneumonia with fundoplication and gastrostomy and avoidance of carbamazepine. In Spielmeyer-Vogt, Vitamin E and appropriate mental and physical stimulation improve the patient's quality of life.

Ocular features of the Hagberg-Santavuori syndrome

The Hagberg-Santavuori syndrome, the infantile form of the lipopigment storage disorders (so-called neuronal ceroid-lipofuscinoses), is a rare autosomal recessive disease characterized by progressive mental and motor deterioration with an onset between 1 and 1 1/2 years of age. Visual impairment is usually evident early in the disease and hypopigmented retinal degeneration has been described. We studied two unrelated patients with the infantile Hagberg-Santavuori form and found stellate posterior polar cataracts and retinal degeneration with hyperpigmented "bone spicules" in both.

Rett syndrome. A commonly overlooked progressive encephalopathy in girls

We report 15 cases of Rett syndrome, a slowly progressive disorder that occurs only in girls and is characterized by early deterioration of higher brain function with dementia and autistic behavior, loss of purposeful use of the hands, and deceleration of head growth. Epilepsy, with minor motor seizures being the predominant type, has its onset between 2 and 4 years of age in the majority of cases. Additional features include an extrapyramidal disorder with dystonia and choreoathetosis, and lactic acidemia. A precise biochemical marker of this disorder has not been identified.

Clinical recognition of Rett syndrome

Key manifestations helpful in diagnosing Rett syndrome include progressive loss of previously acquired psychomotor skills, apraxia with loss of use of hands and legs, and "handwashing" automatisms. Four types of clinical presentation can be described: a neurodegenerative disorder, an autistic syndrome, a Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, and a chronic encephalopathy. Carbamazepine currently appears to be the anticonvulsant of choice. The mild lactic and pyruvic acidosis along with the ultrastructural abnormalities of mitochondria in brain and liver biopsies point to a generalized disorder of energy metabolism.

Bone-marrow transplantation for metachromatic leucodystrophy

An 11-month-old boy with late infantile metachromatic leucodystrophy was given a bone-marrow transplant (BMT) from an HLA-identical sister; 6 months later his cerebrospinal fluid leucocytes were exclusively of donor origin. Coupled with the patient's continued developmental progress, as assessed 33 months after the procedure, the findings suggest that BMT may be an effective treatment for some congenital metabolic disorders which affect the central nervous system.

Congenital corneal opacification secondary to Bowman's layer dysgenesis

Progressive, bilateral corneal clouding was noted at birth in an otherwise healthy infant. There was no evidence of an infectious or hereditary cause. A trial of corticosteroids was unsuccessful, and the opacification in both corneas increased during the course of a few months, necessitating penetrating keratoplasty. However, reopacification of both grafts ensued within two to four months, and a second graft was done on the right eye. Histologic examination of both the original corneal buttons and the failed graft from the right eye showed a thickening of Bowman's layer that was three to four times greater than that of normal controls. This was associated with an increased number of keratocytes producing pools of collagen bundles within Bowman's layer. This report documents a unique form of corneal opacification unassociated with other ocular or systemic diseases. This process may be interpreted as a phenomenon in which the cells that contribute to the intrauterine formation of Bowman's layer continue to proliferate in an abnormal and exuberant fashion beyond fetal life, leading to corneal opacification.

Ocular features of multiple sulfatase deficiency and a new variant of metachromatic leukodystrophy

Multiple sulfatase deficiency, a newly recognized autosomal recessive disorder caused by a deficiency of several sulfatase enzymes, is characterized by psychomotor retardation, ichthyosis, and mild organomegaly. Patients with metachromatic leukodystrophy, also an autosomal recessive disorder, have a deficiency of a single sulfatase enzyme, arysulfatase A. The ocular features of a patient with multiple sulfatase deficiency and a patient with a new biochemical variant of metachromatic leukodystrophy are described. The patient with multiple sulfatase deficiency had a unique, peripheral lens opacity and a panretinal degeneration. The patient with a new variant of metachromatic leukodystrophy exhibited a cherry-red spot.

Peripheral hemodynamics in patients with Fabry's disease

Altered vasomotor activity has been reported as a clinically prominent feature of Fabry's disease (angiokeratoma corporis diffusum universale). While symptomatic cardiovascular involvement occurs eventually in most patients with this disorder, little is known concerning the effect of Fabry's disease on peripheral hemodynamics. Peripheral hemodynamics in the extremities and digits were studied in eight patients with Fabry's disease by means of segmental and venous occlusion pneumoplethysmography and thermal probes, and the results obtained were compared with those of 10 normal subjects. Forearm vascular resistance in Fabry's disease patients was significantly higher (p less than 0.01) than that in normal subjects. Forearm venous capacitance in Fabry's disease was significantly lower (p less than 0.01). Segmental pulse volume amplitudes showed no significant difference in any segments (upper arm, wrist, thigh, above and below knee, and the calf) between the two groups. Finger and toe blood flow, finger and toe pulse volume, and temperature in the resting state were all significantly less (p less than 0.01, p less than 0.05: p less than 0.01, p less than 0.01: p less than 0.05, p less than 0.05, respectively) than those in normal subjects. Finger and toe blood flow and pulse volume after vasodilation procedures were significantly less (p less than 0.05, p less than 0.01: p less than 0.05, p less than 0.01, respectively) than those in normal subjects despite equal elevation of digital temperature obtained after vasodilation in both groups. These findings indicate the presence of vasoconstrictive process in both resistance vessels and capacitances vessels in cutaneous and skeletal muscular beds. A limited response in the cutaneous circulation to vasodilation procedures also was seen. These data suggest the possibility that latent enhanced sympathoadrenal discharge as well as the accumulation of glycolipid in the autonomic nervous system and vessel walls plays an important role in the disturbed pathophysiology of this disorder.

Neutral lipid storage with acid lipase deficiency: a new variant of Wolman's disease with features of the Senior syndrome

A girl presented with small stature, obesity, tapetoretinal degeneration, deafness, psychomotor regression, seizures, acanthosis nigricans, hepatomegaly, and chronic tubulointerstitial nephropathy. She died at age ten with renal insufficiency and uncontrolled seizures. Histochemistry showed lipid storage in hepatocytes, histiocytes, smooth muscles and, to a much lesser extent, kidney tubules and cortical neurons. The liver had increased cholesterol esters (5-fold) and triacylglycerols (8-fold), and decreased phospholipids (50%). Methyllumbelliferyl-oleate, oleylcholestrol, trioleylglycerol, and tripalmitylglycerol lipase activities were markedly reduced in the liver, in the range found in Wolman's disease. In cirrhotic fatty livers these activities ranged from 7-87% of the normal mean. The patient's brain had limited neutral lipid storage and normal methyllumbelliferyl-oleate lipase. Trioleylglycerol lipase activity was 14-60% of controls; tripalmitylglycerol lipase activity 14-25% of controls; and oleylcholestrol lipase activity 12-33% of controls.

Review article: mucolipidosis IV

We review all reported cases of Mucolipidosis IV, add a new one, and present evidence for a generalized phospholipid storage. All phospholipids were increased in the liver, skin fibroblasts and urine. Lysobisphosphatydic acid which was markedly elevated in these samples was the only lipid stored in muscle. A slowly progressive neurological disease with mental retardation and corneal opacities, but lacking mucopolysaccharide excretion, skeletal changes and organomegaly should raise the suspicion of this disease. At this time, the diagnosis is made by EM studies of skin or conjunctiva which should be done if results of tests on serum or bone marrow for lysosomal diseases are normal. We found some of the typical inclusions in skin fibroblasts from an obligate carrier, which suggests that distinction between the homozygote and heterozygote may be difficult. Despite this, two succeeding pregnancies with normal outcomes were successfully monitored.

Multisystem triglyceride storage disorder with impaired long-chain fatty acid oxidation

A five-year-old girl presented with congenital ichthyosis, hepatosplenomegaly, vacuolized granulocytes (Jordans' anomaly), and myopathy. Pathological, ultrastructural, and biochemical studies revealed nonlysosomal, multisystemic triglyceride storage. The cultured fibroblasts had increased uptake but decreased oxidation of labeled oleate. The patient failed to produce ketone bodies on fasting. A medium-chain triglyceride diet reversed the hepatomegaly. These studies are all consistent with a partial defect in the catabolism of long-chain fatty acids. This newly identified syndrome is presumably transmitted as an autosomal recessive trait.

Sphingomyelinases in human tissues. II. Absence of a specific enzyme from liver and brain of Niemann-Pick disease, type C

Sphingomyelinase was obtained in excellent yield from liver and brain by homogenization with 0.05 M citrate-phosphate buffer, pH 4.5, containing 0.25% Triton-X-100 (v/v) followed by dialysis of the supernatant fluids against 1% glycine. Total recovery of enzyme was slightly less with tissue from Niemann-Pick disease compared with control tissue. Isoelectric focusing of liver and brain extracts was successfully used to resolve several species of sphingomyelinase. Three (I-III) of the five species were partially characterized. Enzyme I (pI 4.6) had a pH optimum of 4.8-5.0 in acetate buffer and a Km value of 0.026 mM. Both sphingomyelinases I and II were the major enzymes, whereas III, IV, and V were found at lower levels. Of the two major species in normal liver and brain (I and II), species I alone persisted in liver from the two cases of type C, while species III, IV, and V were present. In brain, only species II was decreased but the resolution of the brain enzymes was less satisfactory.