[Functional exploration of adrenal cortex during liver diseases].
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This is the first description of a connatal case of adrenoleukodystrophy. The clinical picture consisted of severe psychomotor retardation, convulsions and hypsarrhythmia, but no obvious signs of adrenal insufficiency. Pathologically, the adrenals were small. The entire cortex was largely replaced by large round cells. Ultrastructurally, some cells in the adrenal cortex contained inclusions with electron-lucent clefts surrounded by a membrane. The anterior pituitary lobe could be demonstrated to have produced ACTH. The central nervous system showed extensive zones of demyelination in the brainstem, the cerebellum and the right-sided capsula interna. In the demyelinated areas there was sudanophilic breakdown and an intense gliosis. Ongoing demyelination could also be demonstrated by the chemical analysis. In the gray matter there waere micropolygyria of the insular cortex and swollen nerve cells in the nucleus arcuatus. Ultrastructure revealed the type of inclusions in the microglia of the same type as in the adrenals, and a different type of inclusions in unidentifiable cells, possibly neurons. These latter inclusions consisted of loosely stacked lamellar material. The findings are interpreted as further evidence of storage taking place in this disease.
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The straited accumulations in adrenal cortical cells and brain macrophages that are characteristic of adrenoleukodystrophy have been studied histochemically in cryostat sections to seek leads for the biochemical identification of the striated material. It stained pale pink with oil red O and did not stain with the Schultz cholesterol procedure or periodic acid-Schiff technique. By utilizing the birefringence of the accumulations as a marker, it was determined that, unlike natural cholesterol and cholesterol esters, the striated material was resistant to acetone and ethanol extraction. It was readily soluble, however, in nonpolar solvents such as n-hexane and chloroform. These findings indicated that the material was most probably a lipid, and they suggested that sequential extraction of adrenoleukodystrophy adrenal and brain with acetone and then n-hexane could be used to isolate this material in relatively pure form. Based on this lead, biochemical studies have just revealed a fatty acid abnormality in adrenoleukodystrophy which appears to be unique to this genetic disease.
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Wolman disease in an inherited metabolic disease, characterized by a severe deficiency of the acid lipase and a massive lysosomal storage of triacylglycerols and cholesteryl esters, associated with hepatosplenomegaly, adrenal calcification and nearly always fatal in the first year of life. Cultured human lymphoblastoid cells and human adrenal cells are able to promote the formation of mildly oxidized low-density lipoproteins (LDL), which in turn exhibit a non-negligible cytotoxic effect on these cells. In contrast, fibroblasts induce only very low levels of LDL oxidation. Comparative experiments have shown that the cytotoxic effect of oxidized LDL was higher to Wolman-disease cells than to controls. The oxidative ability of Wolman cells was similar to that of normal ones. The over-cytotoxicity of mildly oxidized LDL to Wolman cells resulted from the higher uptake of mildly oxidized LDL through the LDL-receptor pathway, which is only poorly down-regulated in Wolman cells subsequently to the block of the lysosomal degradation of LDL-cholesteryl esters. In cultured adrenal cells, oxidized LDL induced a sustained rise in intracellular [Ca2+] which is directly involved in the cellular damage and cell death induced by oxidized LDL [Nègre-Salvayre and Salvayre (1992) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1123, 207-215]. This Ca2+ peak is followed by a dramatic deposition of calcium in damaged or/and dead cultured adrenal cells, quite similar to that observed in Wolman-disease adrenal cortex. The cell-induced LDL oxidation and the subsequent cytotoxic effect can be prevented, at least in part, by antioxidants such as alpha-tocopherol and nordihydroguaiaretic acid. These findings support the hypothesis that the Wolman-disease adrenal damage (necrosis and calcification) could result from the association of the following events: mild oxidation of LDL by adrenal cells, over-uptake of mildly oxidized LDL by Wolman cells (resulting from the block of the lysosomal degradation of cholesteryl esters in Wolman cells), and cytotoxicity related to the amount of mildly oxidized LDL internalized by cells. The reported data also suggest that LDL oxidation induced by adrenal cells and their subsequent cytotoxicity can be prevented (in part) by antioxidants, and the potential therapeutic use of antioxidants in Wolman disease is discussed.