[Comparative diagnostic value of the analysis of the skeletal muscle and lymphocytes in mitochondrial diseases].

Cytochemical analysis of lymphocytes' enzymes may could be an alternative method to skeletal muscle biopsy in diagnosis of mitochondrial pathology. We investigated biopsies of skeletal muscles and cytochemical status of lymphocytes in 14 children with mitochondrial pathology. Lymphocytes were investigated also in 12 health children. The data on mitochondrial state in the skeletal muscles and peripheral blood lymphocytes were comparable. The less were the size and functional activity of single mitochondria in lymphocytes, the higher was mitochondrial insufficiency in the skeletal muscle. Enzymatic status of peripheral blood lymphocytes is not less indicative of mitochondrial insufficiency in children than mitochondrial characteristics in skeletal muscles. It reflects multisystem mitochondrial insufficiency. The results obtained are determined by both mitochondrial pathological modifications and their compensatory response to pathological process.