Abstract
Arylsulfatase A deficiency (less than 15% of controls) is responsible for a neurological
disorder known as metachromatic leukodystrophy. Nonetheless, low levels of the enzyme
(15–50% of controls, higher than in metachromatic leukodystrophy) in adult patients
have been related to neuropsychiatric disorders. On the other hand, there are only
few and controversial data on the significance of reduced arylsulfatase A activity
in children. This led us to perform the present study. Various classes of arylsulfatase
A activity in children have been related with different groups of neuropsychiatric
disorders and compared with a similar number of healthy children. We found a high
percentage of reduced arylsulfatase A (less than 50% of controls) in children with
pervasive developmental disorders (10.25%). Unexpectedly, raising the threshold level
for considering arylsulfatase A deficiency up to 70% of controls resulted in a marked
increase in the incidence of pervasive developmental disorders. This new class, arylsulfatase
A slight deficiency, contained the highest number of patients affected by psychiatric
symptoms. This suggests that arylsulfatase A slight deficiency could be a marker of
a subclass of pervasive developmental disorders.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
May 29,
2002
Received in revised form:
May 14,
2002
Received:
January 10,
2002
Identification
Copyright
© 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
