Prenatal diagnosis of Zellweger syndrome and related disorders: Impaired degradation of phytanic acid

Abstract
Normal amniocytes and chorionic villous cells in culture are able to produce14CO2 from exogenous [1-14C] phytanic acid. In contrast, cells from four fetuses at risk for the cerebro-hepato-renal (Zellweger) syndrome and related disorders showed a greatly reduced activity, indicating a block in oxidation of the fatty acid. Our data confirm that phytanic acid oxidase activity measurement can be used for the prenatal assessment of this group of disorders.