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Query: UMLS:C0162671 (MELAS)
 587 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The case of 12 years-old boy with seizures, headache, severe vomit and focal neurological signs is reported. These episodes had several recurrences and regression with little neurologic deficits. In the investigation it was found: lactic acidosis; stroke like episodes and calcification in the basal ganglia on computerized axial tomography; ragged red fibers on muscle biopsy and decreased of cytochrome C oxidase in the muscle tissue. A revision about mitochondrial disorders with involvement of the central nervous system and muscle is made, with emphasis on diagnosis and recognition of MELAS.
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PMID:[MELAS (mitochondrial encephalopathy, lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes): report of a case]. 283 Aug 68

A 4-year-old boy presented with developmental delay, aggressive behavior, and incoordination. His EEG showed a diffuse encephalopathy. At age 10 he developed convulsions and severe migraine-like headaches. Muscle wasting, arreflexia, and lactic acidemia following exercise were noted. Electromyography was myopathic and nerve conduction studies revealed a peripheral neuropathy. Muscle biopsy demonstrated variation in fiber size and an excess of lipid droplets. He than had several stroke-like episodes and periods of unconsciousness, associated with severe metabolic acidosis. Muscle cytochrome C oxidase was abnormally low. This boy displayed the classical clinical and biochemical features of MELAS syndrome, namely Mitochondrial myopathy, Encephalopathy, Lactic Acidosis, and Stroke-like episodes. Treatment included carnitine, vitamin C, vitamin K, riboflavin, coenzyme Q10, and corticosteroids. He died at the age of 14 years following an episode of seizures, coma, and gastrointestinal hemorrhage. This is the first reported case of MELAS syndrome in Israel.
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PMID:MELAS syndrome: peripheral neuropathy and cytochrome C-oxidase deficiency: a case report and review of the literature. 772 60

Autopsy reports of patients with mitochondrial encephalopathy with lactic acidosis and strokelike episode (MELAS) are rare. This report documents the clinical and autopsy findings of a 47-year-old woman with MELAS syndrome. The diagnosis was corroborated by documenting a mitochondrial DNA mutation tRNA-Leu (UUR) at position 3243. The patient's clinical history was marked by schizophrenia, peptic ulcer disease, constipation requiring hemicolectomy, migraine headaches, deafness, and a left temporal lobe infarct. At autopsy, a muscle biopsy demonstrated numerous ragged red fibers and a partial cytochrome C oxidase deficiency. By electron microscopy, increased numbers of slightly hypertrophic mitochondria were observed focally within myocytes and vessel walls; paracrystalline mitochondrial inclusions were not seen. The brain at autopsy showed mild cerebral atrophy and diffuse cortical gliosis. Prominent bilateral basal ganglia calcifications and vascular sclerosis were present, and a small remote left temporal lobe infarct was seen.
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PMID:Mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and strokelike episodes (MELAS) syndrome: an autopsy report. 982 26

To assess the detailed expression pattern of mitochondrial-encoded proteins in skeletal muscle of patients with mitochondrial diseases we performed determinations of cytochrome content and enzyme activities of respiratory chain complexes of 12 patients harboring large-scale deletions and of 10 patients harboring the A3243G mutation. For large-scale deletions we observed a mutation gene dose-dependent linear decline of cytochrome aa3 content, cytochrome c oxidase (COX) activity, and complex I activity. The content of cytochromes b and the complex III activity was either not affected or only weakly affected by the deletion mutation and did not correlate to the degree of heteroplasmy. In contrast, in skeletal muscle harboring the A3243G mutation all investigated enzymes containing mitochondrial-encoded subunits were equally affected by the mutation, but we observed milder enzyme deficiencies at a comparable mutation gene dose. The results of single fiber analysis of selected biopsies supported these findings but revealed differences in the distribution of COX deficiency. Whereas predominantly type I fibers were affected in A3243G and deletion CPEO biopsies, we observed in MELAS and KSS biopsies higher quantities of COX-deficient type 2 fibers. Our findings indicate different pathomechanisms of deletion and A3243G mutations.
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PMID:Expression pattern of mitochondrial respiratory chain enzymes in skeletal muscle of patients harboring the A3243G point mutation or large-scale deletions of mitochondrial DNA. 1238 54

Muscle biopsy provides the best tissue to confirm a mitochondrial cytopathy. Histochemical features often correlate with specific syndromes and facilitate the selection of biochemical and genetic studies. Ragged-red fibres nearly always indicate a combination defect of respiratory complexes I and IV. Increased punctate lipid within myofibers is a regular feature of Kearns-Sayre and PEO, but not of MELAS and MERRF. Total deficiency of succinate dehydrogenase indicates a severe defect in Complex II; total absence of cytochrome-c-oxidase activity in all myofibres correlates with a severe deficiency of Complex IV or of coenzyme-Q10. The selective loss of cytochrome-c-oxidase activity in scattered myofibers, particularly if accompanied by strong succinate dehydrogenase staining in these same fibres, is good evidence of mitochondrial cytopathy and often of a significant mtDNA mutation, though not specific for Complex IV disorders. Glycogen may be excessive in ragged-red zones. Ultrastructure provides morphological evidence of mitochondrial cytopathy, in axons and endothelial cells as well as myocytes. Abnormal axonal mitochondria may contribute to neurogenic atrophy of muscle, a secondary chronic feature. Quantitative determinations of respiratory chain enzyme complexes, with citrate synthase as an internal control, confirm the histochemical impressions or may be the only evidence of mitochondrial disease. Biological and technical artifacts may yield falsely low enzymatic activities. Genetic studies screen common point mutations in mtDNA. The brain exhibits characteristic histopathological alterations in mitochondrial diseases. Skin biopsy is useful for mitochondrial ultrastructure in smooth erector pili muscles and axons; skin fibroblasts may be grown in culture. Mitochondrial alterations occur in many nonmitochondrial diseases and also may be induced by drugs and toxins.
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PMID:Pathology of mitochondrial encephalomyopathies. 1601 50

Mitochondrial encephalomyopathies include various syndromes involving both muscles and the nervous system. They are characterized by morphological and/or functional mitochondrial abnormalities. Relevant histological modifications in muscle are ragged-red fibers with or without cytochrome C oxidase (COX) activity. Neuropathological alterations in the brain are not specific. They consist of spongiosis with or without preferential involvement of territories of "system degeneration", neuronal loss, focal necrosis, capillary proliferation and mineral deposits. Their topographic patterns are characteristic of each syndrome. Mitochondrial encephalomyopathies are due to defects in mitochondrial DNA, sporadic, with maternal inheritance or defects in nuclear DNA with mendelian inheritance. The first group is more frequent including MERRF, MELAS, KEARNS-SAYRE, and some LEIGH syndromes. LEIGH syndrome is also the most frequent in the second group. However, in accordance with the progress in molecular genetics, these syndromes might be reclassified.
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PMID:[Mitochondrial encephalomyopathies]. 1632 54

The term "mitochondrial diseases" (MD) refers to a group of disorders related to respiratory chain dysfunction. Clinical features are usually extremely heterogeneous because MD may involve several tissues with different degrees of severity. Muscle and brain are mostly affected, probably because of their high dependence on oxidative metabolism. Muscle can be the only affected tissue or involved as a part of a multi-system disease; ragged red fibers, accumulation of structurally altered mitochondria and cytochrome-c-oxidase (COX) negative fibers are the main pathological features. In mitochondrial encephalopathies, central nervous system (CNS) structures are affected according to different patterns of distribution and severity. Characteristic lesions are neuronal loss, vasculo-necrotic changes, gliosis, demyelination and spongy degeneration. In accordance with either grey matter or white matter involvement two main groups of diseases may be distinguished. Neuronal loss and vasculo-necrotic multifocal lesions are the common features of grey matter involvement; demyelination and spongy degeneration occur when white matter is affected, often associated with less severe lesions of the grey structures. Grey matter lesions are prevalent in MERRF, MELAS, Alpers and Leigh syndromes. White matter involvement is always seen in Kearns-Sayre syndrome and was recently described in mtDNA depletion syndrome linked to dGK mutations and in the rare conditions associated with complex I and II deficiency. In this review we describe the main histopathological features of muscle and CNS lesions in mitochondrial diseases.
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PMID:Neuropathology of mitochondrial diseases. 1754 38

The vascular wall weakness caused by dysplastic alterations predisposes to the spontaneous dissection of cerebral arteries. The authors hypothesized for the first time that dysplasia might be the result of mitochondrial cytopathy. To test this hypothesis, the muscle biopsy was conducted in 3 male patients, aged 30-38 years, with the spontaneous dissection of the internal carotid (2) and posterior cerebral (1) arteries. Clinically dissections manifested by ischemic stroke (2) or the peripheral paresis of the hypoglossal nerve (1). The morphological study of fresh frozen sections of muscle by modified Gomori trichrome method revealed ragged-red fibers The histochemical study showed the severe decrease of the stain on succinate dehydrogenase and cytochrome-c-oxidase as well as the focal intensive staining of peripheral regions of muscle fibers. The complex of found changes is characteristic for a mitochondrial pathology. No patients had A3243G tRNA gene mutation, the most common mutation for MELAS. The serum lactate level was elevated only in one patient. We suggest that the mitochondrial disorder occurs not only in muscle, but also in cerebral artery wall--mitochondrial arteriopathy, which predisposes to spontaneous cerebral artery dissection.
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PMID:[Mitochondrial arteriopathy as a cause of spontaneous dissection of cerebral arteries]. 2073 20

Segregation of mutant mtDNA in human tissues and through the germline is debated, with no consensus about the nature and size of the bottleneck hypothesized to explain rapid generational shifts in mutant loads. We investigated two maternal lineages with an apparently different inheritance pattern of the same pathogenic mtDNA 3243A>G/tRNALeu(UUR) (MELAS) mutation. We collected blood cells, muscle biopsies, urinary epithelium and hair follicles from 20 individuals, as well as oocytes and an ovarian biopsy from one female mutation carrier, all belonging to the two maternal lineages to assess mutant mtDNA load, and calculated the theoretical germline bottleneck size (number of segregating units). We also evaluated "mother-to-offspring" segregations from the literature, for which heteroplasmy assessment was available in at least three siblings besides the proband. Our results showed that mutation load was prevalent in skeletal muscle and urinary epithelium, whereas in blood cells there was an inverse correlation with age, as previously reported. The histoenzymatic staining of the ovarian biopsy failed to show any cytochrome-c-oxidase defective oocyte. Analysis of four oocytes and one offspring from the same unaffected mother of the first family showed intermediate heteroplasmic mutant loads (10% to 75%), whereas very skewed loads of mutant mtDNA (0% or 81%) were detected in five offspring of another unaffected mother from the second family. Bottleneck size was 89 segregating units for the first mother and 84 for the second. This was remarkably close to 88, the number of "segregating units" in the "mother-to-offspring" segregations retrieved from literature. In conclusion, a wide range of mutant loads may be found in offspring tissues and oocytes, resulting from a similar theoretical bottleneck size.
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PMID:A wide range of 3243A>G/tRNALeu(UUR) (MELAS) mutation loads may segregate in offspring through the female germline bottleneck. 2480 91

Pathological mutations in tRNA genes and tRNA processing enzymes are numerous and result in very complicated clinical phenotypes. Mitochondrial tRNA (mt-tRNA) genes are "hotspots" for pathological mutations and over 200 mt-tRNA mutations have been linked to various disease states. Often these mutations prevent tRNA aminoacylation. Disrupting this primary function affects protein synthesis and the expression, folding, and function of oxidative phosphorylation enzymes. Mitochondrial tRNA mutations manifest in a wide panoply of diseases related to cellular energetics, including COX deficiency (cytochrome C oxidase), mitochondrial myopathy, MERRF (Myoclonic Epilepsy with Ragged Red Fibers), and MELAS (mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes). Diseases caused by mt-tRNA mutations can also affect very specific tissue types, as in the case of neurosensory non-syndromic hearing loss and pigmentary retinopathy, diabetes mellitus, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Importantly, mitochondrial heteroplasmy plays a role in disease severity and age of onset as well. Not surprisingly, mutations in enzymes that modify cytoplasmic and mitochondrial tRNAs are also linked to a diverse range of clinical phenotypes. In addition to compromised aminoacylation of the tRNAs, mutated modifying enzymes can also impact tRNA expression and abundance, tRNA modifications, tRNA folding, and even tRNA maturation (e.g., splicing). Some of these pathological mutations in tRNAs and processing enzymes are likely to affect non-canonical tRNA functions, and contribute to the diseases without significantly impacting on translation. This chapter will review recent literature on the relation of mitochondrial and cytoplasmic tRNA, and enzymes that process tRNAs, to human disease. We explore the mechanisms involved in the clinical presentation of these various diseases with an emphasis on neurological disease.
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PMID:Transfer RNA and human disease. 2491 79


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