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

Defects in mitochondrial enzymes, such as pyruvate dehydrogenase and cytochrome oxidase, cause hereditary disorders which lead to modifications in cellular pH due to the accumulation of pyruvate and lactic acid. Mitochondrial diseases include severe neonatal diseases and less severe forms of adult diseases. We report the case of lactic acidosis in a newborn girl who was delivered at 36 weeks of gestation and who died 3 months after birth. Her family history revealed a relative with tetraparesis and mental retardation. Her clinical findings, such as tonic-clonic convulsions and accumulation of pyruvate and lactic acid in blood, urine and cerebrospinal fluid, were refractory to treatment and developed soon after birth. Ultrasound scans of the brain some days before death revealed cerebral atrophy with ventricular dilatation and thinning of the corpus callosum and septum pellucidum. The clinical diagnosis of metabolic lactic acidosis was confirmed by macroscopic, microscopic and ultrastructural findings seen at autopsy. On macroscopic examination, the heart was hypertrophic, and the brain was atrophic with ventricular dilatation and thinning of corpus callosum. Small cystic lesions were present in the basal ganglia. On microscopic examination, the latter were characterized by loss of neurons, gliosis and capillary proliferation. Ultrastructural examination of the heart and skeletal muscle showed lysis of myofibrils, mitochondrial pleomorphism and hyperplasia, and crystalline inclusion in mitochondria and in the matrix compartment. In reporting this case, we emphasize the importance of accurate postmortem examination and clinical data for the diagnosis of metabolic lactic acidosis.
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PMID:[An autopsy case of neonatal lactic acidosis]. 1129 18

We report a nine-year-old boy with the features of Leigh syndrome (LS) and a severe cytochrome-c oxidase (COX) deficiency with a single thymidine insertion at nucleotide position 5537 (T 5537i) in the tRNA Trp gene of mitochondrial DNA. During infancy the boy was irritable and hypotonus was noticed. Early motor development was delayed, although mental development seemed normal until eight months of age. Early neurological signs were nystagmus, hypertonus and optic atrophy. Severe seizures and mental retardation developed subsequently. Major findings on neuroradiological investigation were from the brainstem, thalami and white matter compatible with LS. Spectrophotometric analysis of skeletal muscle mitochondria showed a profound COX deficiency and a marked complex I deficiency. Enzyme-histochemical analysis showed reduced COX activity in the majority of the muscle fibres. There were no ragged red fibres. The T 5537i mutation was found in a high proportion (> 95 %) in blood, liver and muscle tissue of the patient and in blood of the patient's mother (81 %). This mutation has previously been described in one family in which one child had a very high proportion of the T 5537i mutation and clinical features of LS. We conclude that, although mtDNA mutations are considered to be rare in LS with COX deficiency, the T 5537i mutation should be screened for in cases of LS with COX deficiency when SURF1 gene mutations have been excluded, especially when complex I activity is also decreased.
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PMID:Leigh syndrome with cytochrome-c oxidase deficiency and a single T insertion nt 5537 in the mitochondrial tRNATrp gene. 1277 30

Hyperargininemia is an inherited metabolic disease biochemically characterized by tissue accumulation of arginine. Mental retardation and other neurological features are common symptoms in hyperargininemic patients. Considering that the underlying mechanisms of brain damage in this disease are poorly established, in this work we investigated the effect of arginine administration to adult Wistar rats on some parameters of energy metabolism (CO(2) production, glucose uptake, lactate release and the activities of succinate dehydrogenase, complexes II and IV of the respiratory chain) in rat hippocampus. The action of L-NAME, an inhibitor of oxide nitric oxide synthase, on the effects produced by arginine was also tested. Sixty-day-old rats were treated with a single intraperitoneal injection of saline (group I, control), arginine (0.8 g/kg) (group II) or arginine (0.8 g/kg) plus L-NAME (2 mg/kg) (group III) and were killed 1 h later. Results showed that arginine administration significantly increased lactate release and diminished CO(2) production, glucose uptake, succinate dehydrogenase and complex II activities. In contrast, complex IV (cytochrome c oxidase) activity was not changed by this amino acid. Furthermore, simultaneous injection of L-NAME prevented some of these effects, except CO(2) production and lactate release. The present data indicate that in vivo arginine administration impairs some parameters of energy metabolism in hippocampus of rats probably through NO formation.
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PMID:Reduction of energy metabolism in rat hippocampus by arginine administration. 1291 66

The G8363A is a very rare mtDNA tRNA(Lys) gene mutation that has been associated to MERRF-like syndrome, cardiomyopathy or Leigh syndrome. Here, we describe the clinical and molecular features of a new large multigenerational family and we review the literature of cases with this mutation. In our family seven members presented a heterogeneous mitochondrial disease phenotype, from MERRF-like syndrome to isolated psychiatric disorder, associated with the G8363A mutation. The two probands are dizygotic twin sisters affected by mental retardation, neural deafness, myopathy, myoclonic epilepsy and ataxia. Twins' muscle biopsies showed a severe cytochrome c oxidase (COX) deficiency and ragged-red fibers. Their mitochondrial respiratory chain was defective in complexes I and IV in muscle. A severe reduction in complex IV activity was also observed in fibroblasts and myoblasts. Molecular analysis showed a G8363A transition in the mtDNA tRNA(Lys) gene. The mutation was almost homoplasmic (>90%) in muscle and blood of the twins and heteroplasmic (55+/-8%) in blood sample from affected maternal relatives. Based on our family data and the meta-analysis of the literature, we confirm that mutational load directly correlates with severity of the disease (severe vs mild/moderate phenotype; P=0.00168) and with disease onset (P<0.00001). However the presence of several exceptions and overlaps among patients with different clinical severity limits the clinical usefulness of this observation. Although the pathogenicity of the G8363A mutation is well established, counselling is a difficult task for clinicians because of the large phenotypical variability. Our study contributes further data on the clinical spectrum and its relation with the level of G8363A tRNA(Lys) mtDNA mutation.
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PMID:Mitochondrial DNA G8363A mutation in the tRNA Lys gene: clinical, biochemical and pathological study. 1927 89

Mitochondrial disorders are usually associated with defects of 1 or more of the 5 complexes (I to V) of the electron transport chain, or respiratory chain. Complex I and IV are the 2 most frequent abnormalities of the electron transport chain in humans. The authors report the case of a 12-year-old boy with dysmorphic facies, mental retardation, autism, epilepsy, and leg weakness. Buccal swab electron transport chain analysis revealed severe decrease in complex IV and mild reduction in complex I activity levels. Chromosomal microarray studies, using array-based comparative genomic hybridization, revealed a 1-Mb deletion in the 5q14.3 region. This case illustrates that this deletion can be associated with complex I and IV deficits, hence manifesting as a mitochondrial disease. It could be hypothesized that genes that either encode or regulate the expression and/or assembly of complex IV or I subunits are located within the deleted region of 5q14.3.
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PMID:5q14.3 deletion manifesting as mitochondrial disease and autism: case report. 2153 14

Leucine accumulates in fluids and tissues of patients affected by maple syrup urine disease, an inherited metabolic disorder, predominantly characterized by neurological dysfunction. Although, a variable degree of cognition/psychomotor delay/mental retardation is found in a considerable number of individuals affected by this deficiency, the mechanisms underlying the neuropathology of these alterations are still not defined. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of acute intra-hippocampal leucine administration in the step-down test in rats. In addition, the leucine effects on the electrophysiological parameter, long-term potentiation generation, and on the activities of the respiratory chain were also investigated. Male Wistar rats were bilaterally administrated with leucine (80 nmol/hippocampus; 160 nmol/rat) or artificial cerebrospinal fluid (controls) into the hippocampus immediately post-training in the behavioral task. Twenty-four hours after training in the step-down test, the latency time was evaluated and afterwards animals were sacrificed for assessing the ex vivo biochemical measurements. Leucine-treated animals showed impairment in memory consolidation and a complete inhibition of long-term potentiation generation at supramaximal stimulation. In addition, a significant increment in complex IV activity was observed in hippocampus from leucine-administered rats. These data strongly indicate that leucine compromise memory consolidation, and that impairment of long-term potentiation generation and unbalance of the respiratory chain may be plausible mechanisms underlying the deleterious leucine effect on cognition.
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PMID:The intra-hippocampal leucine administration impairs memory consolidation and LTP generation in rats. 2058 63

STXBP1 (MUNC18.1), encoding syntaxin binding protein 1, has been reported in Ohtahara syndrome, a rare epileptic encephalopathy with suppression burst pattern on EEG, in patients with infantile spasms and in a few patients with nonsyndromic mental retardation without epilepsy. We report a patient who presented late onset infantile spasms. Epilepsy was controlled but the patient developed severe mental delay. A first diagnosis of mitochondrial disease was based on clinical presentation and on a partial deficit of respiratory chain complex IV, but molecular screening for mitochondrial genes was negative. The sequencing of STXBP1 gene found a de novo nonsense mutation (c.585C>G/p.Tyr195X). This observation widens the clinical spectrum linked to STXBP1 mutations with the description of a patient with late onset infantile spasms. It raises the question of the value of epilepsy genes screening in patients with uncertain, partial or unconfirmed mitochondrial dysfunction.
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PMID:A novel mutation in STXBP1 causing epileptic encephalopathy (late onset infantile spasms) with partial respiratory chain complex IV deficiency. 2409 19

Tyrosinemia type II is an inborn error of metabolism caused by a deficiency in hepatic cytosolic aminotransferase. Affected patients usually present a variable degree of mental retardation, which may be related to the level of plasma tyrosine. In the present study we evaluated effect of chronic administration of L-tyrosine on the activities of citrate synthase, malate dehydrogenase, succinate dehydrogenase and complexes I, II, II-III and IV in cerebral cortex, hippocampus and striatum of rats in development. Chronic administration consisted of L-tyrosine (500 mg/kg) or saline injections 12 h apart for 24 days in Wistar rats (7 days old); rats were killed 12 h after last injection. Our results demonstrated that L-tyrosine inhibited the activity of citrate synthase in the hippocampus and striatum, malate dehydrogenase activity was increased in striatum and succinate dehydrogenase, complexes I and II-III activities were inhibited in striatum. However, complex IV activity was increased in hippocampus and inhibited in striatum. By these findings, we suggest that repeated administrations of L-tyrosine cause alterations in energy metabolism, which may be similar to the acute administration in brain of infant rats. Taking together the present findings and evidence from the literature, we hypothesize that energy metabolism impairment could be considered an important pathophysiological mechanism underlying the brain damage observed in patients with tyrosinemia type II.
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PMID:The characterization of neuroenergetic effects of chronic L-tyrosine administration in young rats: evidence for striatal susceptibility. 2525 80

Calmodulin lysine methyl transferase (CaM KMT) is ubiquitously expressed and highly conserved from plants to vertebrates. CaM is frequently trimethylated at Lys-115, however, the role of CaM methylation in vertebrates has not been studied. CaM KMT was found to be homozygously deleted in the 2P21 deletion syndrome that includes 4 genes. These patients present with cystinuria, severe intellectual disabilities, hypotonia, mitochondrial disease and facial dysmorphism. Two siblings with deletion of three of the genes included in the 2P21 deletion syndrome presented with cystinuria, hypotonia, a mild/moderate mental retardation and a respiratory chain complex IV deficiency. To be able to attribute the functional significance of the methylation of CaM in the mouse and the contribution of CaM KMT to the clinical presentation of the 2p21deletion patients, we produced a mouse model lacking only CaM KMT with deletion borders as in the human 2p21deletion syndrome. No compensatory activity for CaM methylation was found. Impairment of complexes I and IV, and less significantly III, of the mitochondrial respiratory chain was more pronounced in the brain than in muscle. CaM KMT is essential for normal body growth and somatosensory development, as well as for the proper functioning of the adult mouse brain. Developmental delay was demonstrated for somatosensory function and for complex behavior, which involved both basal motor function and motivation. The mutant mice also had deficits in motor learning, complex coordination and learning of aversive stimuli. The mouse model contributes to the evaluation of the role of methylated CaM. CaM methylation appears to have a role in growth, muscle strength, somatosensory development and brain function. The current study has clinical implications for human patients. Patients presenting slow growth and muscle weakness that could result from a mitochondrial impairment and mental retardation should be considered for sequence analysis of the CaM KMT gene.
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PMID:Calmodulin Methyltransferase Is Required for Growth, Muscle Strength, Somatosensory Development and Brain Function. 2624 64

Sarcosine is an N-methyl derivative of the amino acid glycine, and its elevation in tissues and physiological fluids of patients with sarcosinemia could reflect a deficient pool size of activated 1-carbon units. Sarcosinemia is a rare inherited metabolic condition associated with mental retardation. In the present study, we investigated the acute effect of sarcosine and/or creatine plus pyruvate on some parameters of oxidative stress and energy metabolism in cerebral cortex homogenates of 21-day-old Wistar rats. Acute administration of sarcosine induced oxidative stress and diminished the activities of adenylate kinase, GAPDH, complex IV, and mitochondrial and cytosolic creatine kinase. On the other hand, succinate dehydrogenase activity was enhanced in cerebral cortex of rats. Moreover, total sulfhydryl content was significantly diminished, while DCFH oxidation, TBARS content, and activities of SOD and GPx were significantly enhanced by acute administration of sarcosine. Co-administration of creatine plus pyruvate was effective in the prevention of alterations provoked by sarcosine administration on the oxidative stress and the enzymes of phosphoryltransfer network. These results indicate that acute administration of sarcosine may stimulate oxidative stress and alter the energy metabolism in cerebral cortex of rats. In case these effects also occur in humans, they may contribute, along with other mechanisms, to the neurological dysfunction of sarcosinemia, and creatine and pyruvate supplementation could be beneficial to the patients.
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PMID:Evaluation of Oxidative Stress Parameters and Energy Metabolism in Cerebral Cortex of Rats Subjected to Sarcosine Administration. 2735 17


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