autosomal recessive

This is a clinically heterogeneous disorder with extensive neurological deficits.  Patients have feeding and swallowing difficulties from the neonatal period.  There is intrauterine growth retardation and postnatally patients usually exhibit psychomotor delays and intellectual disabilities.  Some develop seizures and few achieve normal developmental milestones.  Axial hypotonia is present from early infancy and most patients have muscle weakness and atrophy.  However, there may be spastic quadriplegia which is often associated with dysmetria, tremor, and athetosis.  Ataxia eventually develops in most patients. 

Brain imaging shows cerebral and cerebellar atrophy, enlarged ventricles, white matter defects, and delayed myelination. 

Incomplete metabolic studies suggest there may be abnormalities in mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation activity in at least some tissues.  Most patients have an elevated serum lactate.

Death in childhood is common.

This is a severe congenital neurodevelopmental disorder with global delay, hypotonia, and characteristic facies.  It is usually present at birth and soon manifest as a profound intellectual delay.  Most patients do not develop speech or independent motor skills.  Feeding difficulties are evident early and often require gastric tube placement for nutrition.  Failure to thrive is common.   Most patients have seizures of a tonic-clonic or atonic type which may be controlled with medication. 

Microcephaly, brachycephaly, plagiocephaly, and brachycephaly have been described.  A high forehead with frontal bossing, facial hypotonia, triangular facies have been described.  The ears are low-set and posteriorly rotated.  The upper lip is often thin and the mouth is commonly open.  The neck appears short, the nose is bulbous while the nasal bridge is prominent and the nares may be anteverted.

Brain imaging is normal in some patients but there is evidence of generalized cerebral atrophy, with a thin corpus callosum and decreased myelination in others.  Variable features such as scoliosis, hip contractures, muscle wasting, and dyskinesias are sometimes seen.

Systemic signs seem variable but full evaluations have not been done in all patients.  Mild developmental delay has been reported in some individuals and significant childhood onset hearing loss has been documented in at least one person.  Radiography of the hands revealed cone-shaped phalangeal epiphyses in 5 probands and one proband had short fingers in one study.

Six patients from 4 unrelated families of mixed ethnic backgrounds have been reported.  Infants within the first 4 to 6 months of life had evidence of developmental delay and neurodevelopmental regression.  Poor feeding and breathing difficulties are often noted in this period.  Other later signs are axial hypotonia, abnormal movements such as tremor, spasticity, hyperkinetic movements, dystonia with eventual regression of milestones.  Joint contractures and kyphoscoliosis may develop. 

Microcephaly was noted in several infants and brain imaging in all patients reveals abnormal T2- weighted signals in the brainstem and specifically in the basal ganglia.  Decreased activity in muscle mitochondrial respiratory complexes I, III, and IV has been documented.  Lactate may be increased in serum and the CSF.  Postmortem studies show brain vascular proliferation and gliosis in basal structures.

All patients have anhidrosis resulting in alacrima and xerostomia with heat intolerance.  Nails and hair are normal.  Muscle weakness, heart palpitations, and post-exertional cramping may be experienced with mild exercise beginning in the first decade.  Polydipsia and polydipsia may be additional complaints.  Severe dental enamel wear is often evident.  The skin has a fine, white scaliness.  Adolescent-onset nephrocalcinosis has been reported in some patients.

The majority of patients have elevated serum Mg++ levels.  Mild renal failure occurs with loss of NaCl and secondary hyperaldosteronism and hypokalemia.

The phenotype is somewhat variable.  Intrauterine and postnatal growth retardation with hypotonia are common.   Moderate to severe intellectual disability is usually present and speech may be severely delayed.  The forehead is narrow, the nasal tip is broad, the nasal bridge is depressed, and the ears are low-set and posteriorly rotated.   Small hands and sometimes joint laxity are commonly present.  Cervical spine abnormalities including clefting, improper fusion, and segmentation anomalies are common.

Brain MRI may be normal but a small corpus callosum was present in some patients.

Multiple systemic malformations are usually present.  A small mouth, nasal dysplasia with hypoplastic alae nasi, and syndactyly may be seen.  Urogenital malformations such as renal dysgenesis or dysplasia, ambiguous genitalia, streak ovaries may be present.  Pulmonary hypoplasia and imperforate anus have been reported.

Low-set simple ears were noted in two stillborn fetuses.  Micrognathia and a broad and beaked nose with notched alae nasi were described together with a malformed and atretic larynx.  The fingers and toes may be short and cutaneous syndactyly may be present.  The position of the anus may be abnormal.  The lungs may have abnormal lobulation and appear hyperplastic and hyperechogenic.  The bladder and kidneys may be absent.