Prenatal diagnosis of mucolipidosis IV by electron microscopy

Mucolipidosis IV, a recently recognized metabolic storage disease, is characterized clinically by corneal opacity in infancy, full facial features, and psychomotor retardation. Electron microscopy of cells from a 2-year-old affected girl revealed multiple cytoplasmic storage bodies. Cultured amniotic fluid cells, in two subsequent pregnancies, demonstrated similar abnormal storage bodies. Electron microscopic examination of various uncultured tissues from one abortus demonstrated abnormal inclusions in the cells of the brain, cornea, conjunctiva, and other epithelial tissues, thus confirming the prenatal diagnosis. This suggests that mucolipidosis IV is an autosomal recessive trait and demonstrates the efficacy of electron microscopy in the prenatal diagnosis of metabolic storage diseases whose biochemical defect is yet unknown.