Adult‐onset acid maltase deficiency: A postmortem study

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Abstract
In a postmortem study of a patient with adult‐onset acid maltase deficiency (AMD), morphological abnormalities were confined to skeletal muscle and consisted of a vacuolar myopathy. Acid maltase activity, however, was approximately 6% of normal in muscle, liver, and brain, and 3% of normal in heart. Kinetic characteristics, and inhibition by antibodies and Zn++, showed that the residual activity was “authentic” acid maltase. Neutral maltase activity was normal in muscle and liver, but decreased in brain (55% of normal) and heart (19% of normal). Although the relative decrease of acid maltase was similar in different tissues, absolute residual activity was lowest in skeletal muscle: this may explain the selective involvement of this tissue in late‐onset AMD.