Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0023380 (lethargy)
 5,697 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Three female infants with citrullinemia were followed clinically, biochemically and by electroencephalography. All three had episodes of vomiting, lethargy and hyperammonemia shortly after birth. The two more severe cases developed convulsions. They were saved by peritoneal dialysis, or repeated exchange transfusions followed by dietary adjustment. Multifocal spikes or repetitive paroxysmal activity of various kinds were seen in the EEGs at times of crisis. There was a lag in the EEG returning to normal after ammonia levels had returned to normal. Citrulline remained elevated in all cases. Follow-up over years revealed mild spasticity, mental retardation and, in one case, cortical atrophy.
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PMID:The EEGs of infants with citrullinemia. 399 77

Urea Cycle Disorders (UCD) is an inborn error of urea synthesis in which ammonium and other nitrogenous precursors of urea accumulate leading to episodic coma and a high mortality rate. Therapy with peritoneal dialysis, essential amino acids or their nitrogen-free analogues has increased survival. The authors report 5 cases of urea cycle disorders, all of whom developed and were rescued from hyperammonemic coma. However, the eventual outcome was quite variable. Argininosuccinate lyase deficiency (ALD) Case 1. A 2 month old male infant, a product of a consanguineous marriage (Suphanburi province); developed poor feeding on day 7, lethargy, convulsion, hepatomegaly and respiratory alkalosis leading to respiratory failure and coma. Hyperammonemia, elevation of glutamic acid and argininosuccinic acid and its anhydrides confirmed the diagnosis of ALD. He is now 9 years old and severely retarded. Case 2. A male infant with history of lethargy, poor feeding on day 3, treated as sepsis and required respiratory support for 6 days; subsequently readmitted at age 2 weeks with vomitting, lethargy, seizure activity and hyperammonemia, and was treated by a local pediatrician in Songkhla province. There was a history of parental consanguinity and he was referred to Siriraj Hospital on day 64 with severe essential amino acid deficiency and acrodermatitis enteropathica with markedly elevated plasma citrulline level. In spite of aggressive treatment; the patient developed sepsis and he expired on day 78. Ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency (OTC) Case 3. An eleven-month-old male infant, the product of a non-consanguineous marriage, developed neonatal onset of hyperammonemia on day 5 after poor feeding, lethargy, hypothermia, seizure, apnea and coma. He was rescued from neonatal hyperammonemic coma on day 9 after aggressive treatment, but expired at eleven months of age after overwhelming sepsis. Case 4. A male infant, sibling of case 3 was referred to Siriraj Hospital on day 8 with hyperammonemia and coma. In spite of intensive genetic counseling given after the birth of their first child with OTC, the couple chose to have another baby without informing any physician. The baby developed vomiting and lethargy on day 2; subsequently hyperammonemia was noted. In spite of aggressive treatment given; hepatic dysfunction, renal failure and disseminated intravascular coagulation defects occurred on day 15. He expired on day 18 after parental permission for discontinuation of all treatment. Argininosuccinate synthetase deficiency (ASS) or Citrullinemia. Case 5. A seven week old female infant, the product of a consanguineous marriage and of Pakistani ethnic origin; developed intermittent vomiting from day 6. Initial diagnoses included ruminations, sepsis and pyloric stenosis for which she was operated on (day 30); however, vomiting continued; subsequently seizures, hyperammonemic coma developed and she was rescued from hyperammonemic coma within 30 hours. Significant elevations of citrulline and L-glutamine were demonstrated. She was discharged in excellent condition to her home in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
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PMID:Urea cycle disorders in Thai infants: a report of 5 cases. 1240 52

Citrullinemia type I (CTLN1, OMIM# 215700) is an inherited urea cycle disorder that is caused by an argininosuccinate synthetase (ASS) enzyme deficiency. In this report, we describe two spontaneous hypomorphic alleles of the mouse Ass1 gene that serve as an animal model of CTLN1. These two independent mouse mutant alleles, also described in patients affected with CTLN1, interact to produce a range of phenotypes. While some mutant mice died within the first week after birth, others survived but showed severe retardation during postnatal development as well as alopecia, lethargy, and ataxia. Notable pathological findings were similar to findings in human CTLN1 patients and included citrullinemia and hyperammonemia along with delayed cerebellar development, epidermal hyperkeratosis, and follicular dystrophy. Standard treatments for CTLN1 were effective in rescuing the phenotype of these mutant mice. Based on our studies, we propose that defective cerebellar granule cell migration secondary to disorganization of Bergmann glial cell fibers cause cerebellar developmental delay in the hyperammonemic and citrullinemic brain, pointing to a possible role for nitric oxide in these processes. These mouse mutations constitute a suitable model for both mechanistic and preclinical studies of CTLN1 and other hyperammonemic encephalopathies and, at the same time, underscore the importance of complementing knockout mutations with hypomorphic mutations for the generation of animal models of human genetic diseases.
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PMID:Two hypomorphic alleles of mouse Ass1 as a new animal model of citrullinemia type I and other hyperammonemic syndromes. 2072 89

Citrullinemia type I is a urea cycle disorder caused by autosomal recessive mutations in argininosuccinate synthetase 1 (ASS1). In the classical form of this disease, symptoms manifest during the neonatal period as progressive lethargy, poor feeding, and central nervous system depression secondary to hyperammonemia. In pregnancies involving two carrier parents, prenatal diagnosis is important for both reproductive decisions and advanced preparation for neonatal care. The current gold standard for prenatal diagnosis has been the citrulline incorporation assay in addition to DNA mutation analysis. Herein, we review our experience with prenatal diagnosis of citrullinemia type I over the span of 11 years in 41 at-risk pregnancies. During this time, we identified 15 affected fetuses using a combination of molecular and biochemical testing. Given the established limitations of both the citrulline incorporation assay as well DNA mutation analysis, we probed our data to assess the value of amniotic fluid amino acid levels in prenatal diagnosis. Previous publications have proposed using the amniotic fluid ratio of citrulline/(arginine+ornithine) in prenatal diagnosis; however, we noted that amniotic fluid arginine levels were normal in our cohort and hypothesized that the amniotic fluid citrulline/ornithine ratio may be superior. Indeed, our analyses revealed that the ratio of amniotic fluid citrulline/ornithine alone correctly distinguished affected from unaffected fetuses in all cases. During the establishment of a normal reference range we discovered significant elevations in amniotic fluid citrulline levels in at-risk pregnancies compared to the normal population even when the fetus was unaffected. This highlights the importance of using amniotic fluid from carrier mothers when setting up a normal reference range. Finally, we report our experience as one of the first centers to adopt Sanger sequencing for prospective prenatal diagnosis of citrullinemia. While this is clearly a useful tool in many cases, we encountered families for whom molecular analysis uncovered variants of unknown clinical significance or no mutation at all. Based upon these new findings, we recommend a combinatorial approach involving ASS1 sequencing and amniotic fluid citrulline/ornithine for the prenatal diagnosis of citrullinemia type I.
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PMID:Improved standards for prenatal diagnosis of citrullinemia. 2488 30