Summary
Two maternal cousins are described with the connatal form of Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease (PMD) and congenital stridor. Study of brain biopsy material confirms the diagnosis of PMD. The neuropathological findings are suggestive for the transitional form of this disease. Quantitative morphology gives support to the hypothesis that PMD is a disturbance in maturation of neurons and in myelin formation rather than an active degenerative process. The hereditary transmission is most consistent with a sex-linked recessive pattern. Different X-linked signs seem combined in the presented cases.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adachi M, Schneck L, Torie J, Volk BW (1970) Histochemical, ultrastructural and biochemical studies of a case with leukodystrophy due to congenital deficiency of myelin. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 29:601–614
Apley J (1953) The infant with stridor: a follow-up survey of 80 cases. Arch Dis Childh 28:423–435
Benians RC, Benson PF, Sherwood T, Spector RG (1964) Intellectual impairment in congenital laryngeal stridor. Guy's Hosp Rep 113:360–367
Colon EJ (1971) Quantitative cytoarchitectonics of the human cerebral cortex. Psychiat Neurol Neurochir 74:291–302
Förster C, Daschner F, Murken JD (1971) Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Krankheit: Zur Frage der klinischen Diagnose. Z Kinderheilk 110:248–260
Jellinger K, Seitelberger F (1969) Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease: transitional form between classical and co-natal (Seitelberger) type. Acta Neuropathol (Berl) 14:108–117
McKusick VA (1978) Mendelian inheritance in man. 5th edn. Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, Baltimore, pp 792–793 (no 31160)
McSwiney PF, Cavanagh NPC, Languth P (1977) Outcome in congenital stridor (laryngo malacia). Arch Dis Childh 52:215–217
Meier C (1977) Die Maus-Mutante “Jimpy”: Tiermodelle einer Leukodystrophie. Fortschr Med 45:2623–2626
Menkes J, Philippart M, Concone MC (1966) Concentration and fatty acid composition of cerebrosides and sulfatides in mature and immature human brain. J Lipid Res 7:479
Merzbacher L (1910) Eine eigenartige familiär-hereditäre Erkrankungsform (Aplasia axialis extra corticalis congenita). Zentralbl Ges Neurol Psychiat 3:1
Merzbacher L (1923) Über die Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Krankheit. Zentralbl Ges Neurol Psychiat 32:202–204
Mickel HS, Gilles FH (1970) Changes in glial cells during human telencephalies myelinogenesis. Brain 93:337–346
Neuhäuser G, Zu Rhein GM, Kaveggia EG, Opitz JM (1977) Fatal CNS dysgenesis with severe microcephaly, mental retardation, seizures and paucity of myclin, autosomal recessive trait? Eur J Pediat 124:185–198
Nisenbaum C, Sandbank U, Kohn R (1965) Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease “infantile acute type”. Report of a family. Ann Paediat 204:365–376
Plott D (1964) Congenital laryngeal-abductor paralysis due to nucleus ambiguus dysgenesis in three brothers. New Engl J Med 271:593–596
Poser CM (1962) Concepts of dysmyelination. In: Aronson SM, Volk BW (eds) Cerebral sphingo lipidoses. A symposium on Tay-Sachs disease and allied disorders. Academic Press. New York, p 141
Poser CM (1978) Dysmyelination revisited. Arch Neurol 35:401–408
Pracy MR (1965) Stridor in children. Proc R Soc Med 58:267–270
Quinn-Bogard AL, Potsic WP (1977) Stridor in the first year of life: the clinical evaluation of the persistent of intermittent noisy breather. Clin Pediatr 16:913–919
Schneck L, Adachi M, Volk BW (1971) Congenital failure of myelinization: Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease? Neurology 21:817–824
Schröder JM, Bohl J, Brodda K (1978) Changes of the ratio between myelin thickness and axon diameter in the human developing sural nerve. Acta Neuropathol (Berl) 43:169–178
Seitelberger F (1954) Die Pelizaeus-Merzbachersche Krankheit. Klinisch-anatomische Untersuchungen zum Problem ihrer Stellung unter den diffusen Sklerosen. Wien Z Nervenheilk 10:397–405
Seitelberger F (1970) Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease. In: Vinken PJ, Bruyn GW (eds) Handbook of clinical neurology, vol 10. North Holland, Amsterdam, pp 150–202
Stark G (1972) Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease. Dev Med Child Neurol 14:806–809
Ulrich J, Herschkowitz N (1977) Seitelberger's connatal form of Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease: case report, clinical, pathological and biochemical findings. Acta Neuropathol (Berl) 40:129–136
Van der Loos H (1956) Une combinaison de deux vieilles méthodes histologiques pour le système nerveux central. Monatsschr Psychiat Neurol 132:330–334
Watanabe I, Caman Mc R, Dyken P, Zeman W (1969) Absence of cerebral myelin sheaths in a case of presumed Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 88:243–256
Watanabe I, Patel V, Goebel HH, Siakotos AN, Zeman W, de Myer W, Dyer JS (1973) Early lesion of Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease: electronmicroscopic and biochemical study. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 32:313–333
Watters GV, Fitsch N (1973) Familial laryngeal abductor paralysis and psychomotor retardation. Clin Genet 4:429–433
Weerdt de CJ, Hooghwinkel GJM (1969) Congenital retarded myelinization in a newborn child with infantile spasms. Clin Neurol Neurosurg 2:143–150
Willems JL (1978) Disorders in pyruvate metabolism. Thesis, Nijmegen
Zeman W, De Mijer W, Falls HF (1964) Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease. A study in nosology. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 23:334–354
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Renier, W.O., Gabreëls, F.J.M., Hustinx, T.W.J. et al. Connatal Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease with congenital stridor in two maternal cousins. Acta Neuropathol 54, 11–17 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00691328
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00691328