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A case of mitochondrial encephalomyopathy associated with a muscle coenzyme Q10 deficiency.

Abstract
We report severe coenzyme Q10 deficiency of muscle in a 4-year-old boy presenting with progressive muscle weakness, seizures, cerebellar syndrome, and a raised cerebro-spinal fluid lactate concentration. State-3 respiratory rates of muscle mitochondria with glutamate, pyruvate, palmitoylcarnitine, and succinate as respiratory substrates were markedly reduced, whereas ascorbate/N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine were oxidized normally. The activities of complexes I, II, III and IV of the electron transport chain were normal, but the activities of complexes I+III and II+III, both systems requiring coenzyme Q10 as an electron carrier, were dramatically decreased. These results suggested a defect in the mitochondrial coenzyme Q10 content. This was confirmed by the direct assessment of coenzyme Q10 level by high-performance liquid chromatography in patient's muscle homogenate and isolated mitochondria, revealing levels of 16% and 6% of the control values, respectively. We did not find any impairment of the respiratory chain either in a lymphoblastoid cell line or in skin cultured fibroblasts from the patient, suggesting that the coenzyme Q10 depletion was tissue-specific. This is a new case of a muscle deficiency of mitochondrial coenzyme Q in a patient suffering from an encephalomyopathy.
AuthorsE Boitier, F Degoul, I Desguerre, C Charpentier, D François, G Ponsot, M Diry, P Rustin, C Marsac
JournalJournal of the neurological sciences (J Neurol Sci) Vol. 156 Issue 1 Pg. 41-6 ( 1998) ISSN: 0022-510X [Print] Netherlands
PMID9559985 (Publication Type: Case Reports, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
Chemical References
  • Coenzymes
  • Ubiquinone
  • Lactic Acid
  • coenzyme Q10
Topics
  • Cerebellar Ataxia (complications)
  • Child, Preschool
  • Coenzymes
  • Electron Transport
  • Epilepsy (complications)
  • Humans
  • Kinetics
  • Lactic Acid (cerebrospinal fluid)
  • Male
  • Mitochondria, Muscle (pathology)
  • Mitochondrial Encephalomyopathies (cerebrospinal fluid, complications, physiopathology)
  • Muscle, Skeletal (physiopathology)
  • Polarography
  • Retinal Diseases (complications)
  • Ubiquinone (analogs & derivatives, physiology)

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