3 siblings with symmetrical calcifications in the strio-pallido-dentate system are described. Parathyroid function was normal and there were no signs of central or peripheral myelinopathy. This is the 9th family reported with autosomal recessive idiopathic strio-pallido-dentate calcinosis and the first to be investigated by computerized tomography (CT). CT scans appeared to be superior to plain skull radiograms to assess the localization and the extent of the calcifications in vivo. The calcifications were the least extensive in the youngest and the most extensive in the eldest. It is suggested that the calcifying process is a progressive disorder. It seems to start in the dentate nuclei and pons, and subsequently extends to the basal ganglia and to the radiation of the corpus callosum.
Chromosomes were studied in a mentally retarded boy with microcephaly, growth retardation, facial erythema, café-au-lait spots, and IgA deficiency. In the lymphocytes there was a remarkable tendency to exchange parts of the chromosomes Nos. 7 and 14, the translocations almost exclusively taking place in bands 7p13, 7q32 and 14q11. Seven different types of rearrangements between Nos. 7 and 14, and some other chromosomal aberrations were found. No abnormalities could be detected in the bone marrow. The patient somewhat resembles those affected with ataxia-telangiectasia or with Bloom's syndrome, but on clinical and cytogenetic grounds these disorders could be excluded. 7/14 Translocations similar to those found in our patient's lymphocytes have been reported to occur very rarely in the lymphocyte cultures of individuals with apparently normal chromosome constitution. A relationship between these phenomena may exist.
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.
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