Intraepidermal morphologic manifestations in lysosomal diseases

This paper reports the ultrastructural findings for the epidermis of biopsied skin specimens in numerous lysosomal diseases, which can be grouped as follows: a) presence of vacuolar lysosomal residual bodies in mucopolysaccharidoses I, II and III, Salla disease, GM1-gangliosidoses and infantile type II glycogenosis; b) avacuolar lysosomal residual bodies in Niemann-Pick disease type C, mucolipidosis IV, Farber disease, Fabry disease, and late infantile and juvenile neuronal ceroid-lipofuscinoses; c) absence of lysosomal residual bodies in GM2-gangliosidoses, metachromatic leukodystrophy, Gaucher disease and sialidosis type III. Whenever possible, a biopsy of the skin for morphological diagnosis of lysosomal disorders ought not to be confined to the epidermis.