Alpha-antitrypsin deficiency. Experience from an autopsy material

Alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency of genotype PiZ was found in 15 persons (6.3 per cent) out of an autopsy series of 238. The hepatic tissue was screened after diastase digestion and PAS staining. The globules demonstrated thereby showed by the immunoperoxidese reaction an antigenic identity with alpha-1-antitrypsin. It is estimated that one of the persons was homozygous, the others heterozygous. Among the latter, pulmonary emphysema was rather more common than found previously, whereas the hepatic changes were not quite so pronounced.