Glycogenosis type I (glucose 6-phosphatase deficiency): I. Ultrastructural morphometric analysis of juvenile liver cells

Abstract

The essential biochemical characteristic of von Gierke's disease is an inborn glucose-6-phosphatase deficiency and glycogen storage in the liver and kidney. This expresses itself morphometrically as an increased volume of glycogen per unit volume of the hepatocellular cytoplasm. Since glucose-6-phosphatase activity in patients studied is practically at the zero level, and the endoplasmic reticulum loses a large part of its membrane values, we conclude that the remaining endoplasmic reticulum represents glucose-6-phosphatase free membranes. A typical structural feature of the endoplasmic reticulum in von Gieke's disease is the appearance of "double contoured vesicles" (= pockets). These vesicles comprise approximately 3,5% of the total membrane system. The mitochondria play an important role in glycolysis and glycogen synthesis. It is thus to be expected that these organelles change in terms of their morphometric parameters in the course of glycogenosis type I. An important point in this direction is numerical mitochondrion reduction in combination with an unchanged mitochondrial volume.