Hunter's syndrome. An ultrastructural study of an autopsy case.

An autopsy case of a 10-year, 8-month-old boy with Hunter's syndrome is reported with emphasis on the ultrastructural findings of almost all the organs, except the brain. Intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies were observed in various organs as follows: nerve cells and glia in the spinal cord, hepatocytes and Kupffer cells in the liver, sinusoidal endothelium of the spleen, proximal tubules, podocytes and epithelium of Bowman's capsule of the kidney, interstitial fibroblast-like cells among cardiac muscle bundles, cardiac valves and aorta, exocrine and endocrine cells of the pancreas, adrenocortical cells, follicular epithelial cells of the thyroid. Leydig cells of the testis, chondrocytes, fibroblasts and endothelium of capillaries throughout the body. Three types of inclusion bodies were morphologically distinguishable. Type 1: clear vacuole, Type 2: zebra body, Type 3: clear vacuole with a lipid-like lamellar structure. The clear vacuole (Type 1) was thought to represent an accumulation of glycosaminoglycans, and the zebra body (Type 2), probably ganglioside. The type 3 inclusion body might be an intermediate and mixed form of the type 1 and type 2 inclusions. Histochemical study also suggested that the type 3 inclusion body contained glycosaminoglycan and a type of lipid.