Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0025362 (mental retardation)
 15,878 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A unique pathological finding of astrocytes was observed in the brain of a 20-year-old man who had severe physical and mental retardation. The brain was malformed showing micropolygyria in several cortical areas. A large number of hypertrophic astrocytes with eosinophilic granular substances in their cytoplasm were found throughout the cerebral cortex. Several staining procedures and electron microscopical examinations were carried out on these intracytoplasmic inclusion. It was found that the appearance and staining character of these inclusions were different from other astrocytic changes, especially the Rosenthal fiber, described so far. The authors consider that these inclusion bodies in cerebral cortical astrocytes represent new pathological changes of astrocytes that appear to be associated with malformation of the brain.
 ...
PMID:Inclusion bodies in cerebral cortical astrocytes: a new change of astrocytes. 138 Feb

Alexander's disease is a progressive degenerative neurological disorder developing in early childhood which is characterized by accumulation of Rosenthal fibres throughout the cerebral white matter. These fibres are composed of glial fibrillary acidic protein and ubiquinated alpha beta crystallin. The absence of atypia, increased cellularity, mitotic activity or necrosis in biopsy material allows differentiation from neoplasia glial processes. Clinical features suggestive of the diagnosis include progressive mental retardation with an increase in head circumference.
 ...
PMID:Test and teach. Number seventy-three. Diagnosis: Alexander's disease. 826 44

We describe 2 new cases of Alexander's disease, the first to be reported in Belgium. The first patient, a 4-year-old girl, presented with progressive megalencephaly, mental retardation, spastic tetraparesis, ataxia and epilepsy: post-mortem examination showed widespread myelin loss with Rosenthal fibers (RFs) accumulation throughout the neuraxis. She was the third of heterozygotic twins, the 2 others having developed normally and being alive at age 5 years. The second patient developed at age 10 years and over a decade spastic paraparesis, palatal myoclonus, nystagmus, thoracic hyperkyphosis and thoraco-lumbar scoliosis with radiological findings of bilateral anterior leukoencephalopathy. Brain stereotactic biopsy at age 16 years demonstrated numerous RFs. With these 2 cases, we review the literature on the various clinico-pathological conditions reported as Alexander's disease. We discuss the nosology of this entity and the pathogeny of RFs formation and dysmyelination. Clues to the diagnosis of this encephalopathy in the living patient are briefly described.
 ...
PMID:Infantile and juvenile presentations of Alexander's disease: a report of two cases. 1010 Sep 59