[Analytical study of Fabry's disease (author's transl)]

Fabry's disease: absence of storage as a feature of liver sinus endothelium

Histochemical and electronoptic examination of 2 cases of Fabry's disease revealed no storage in the liver sinus endothelium while that of the portal vessels (artery, capillaries, and vein) and the central vein was affected by storage of a variable, though on average considerable degree. The findings are indirect evidence of the markedly different biology of the liver sinus endothelium within the capillary system.

[Electron microscopic observations in internal organs in morbus Fabry (author's transl)]

Electron microscopic findings are reported on the localization and fine structure of glycolipid inclusions in different organs (heart, kidney, lymph nodes, arterial blood vessels, pancreas) in Fabry's disease in a female. The intracellular and extracellular inclusions were made up of multilamellar membraneous systems in concentric, excentric, and parallel arrangement. This fine structure is characteristic of liquid-crystalline phases of phospholipid-water systems. The same type of inclusions are found in the internal organs of heterozygotic women as in homozygotic men. The relationship between the glycolipid inclusions and the lysosomes is discussed.

Fabry's disease on the mechanism of the peripheral nerve involvement

A sural nerve biopsy of a patient with Fabry's disease showed depletion of larger myelinated fibres, but smaller myelinated and unmyelinated fibres were intact. Epineurial and to a lesser degree endoneurial vessels revealed abundant lamellar inclusions in the endothelial and perithelial cells. Larger myelinated nerve fibres contained glycogen granules in the vacuoles caused by splitting of the adaxonal membranes. A skin biopsy revealed abundant inclusions in the secretory cells and myoepithelial cells of the sweat glands. The lumen of the gland was packed with inclusions like those in the vessel walls. The pain and anhydrosis might be caused by accumulation of glycolipid in the vasa nervorum and sweat glands and not by autonomic nerve involvement.