Ultrastructural study of peripheral lymphocytes and polymorphonuclear leukocytes in children with lysosomal enzymopathies and hyperlipoproteinemia.

On the basis of electronmicroscopic examinations of the peripheral lymphocytes and polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNL) in mucopolysaccharidosis of types I and II in Gaucher and Nieman-Pick diseases, in metachromatic leukodystrophy and in hyperlipoproteinemia, the ultrastructural characteristics are described. Pathological findings with vacuoles formations were observed in Gaucher disease and in metachromatic leukodystrophy against the preliminary literature. The ultrastructural pathological changes are reported from the first ultrastructural PMNL examinations in hyperlipoproteinemias. Electronmicroscopic analysis of the leukocytes is considered to give information equivalent in value to that from liver biopsy studies, but is advantageous in view of its non-invasive nature.