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• We performed a lipid analysis on nerve biopsy specimens in two cases of degenerative hypertrophic neuropathy. Quantitative analysis of the major lipid classes, ie, cholesterol, cerebrosides, sulfatides, ethanolamine phospholipids, phosphatidyl-choline, phosphatidyl-serine, phosphatidyl-inositol, sphingomyelin, and gangliosides, were performed. The two cases exhibited extreme decreases in levels of lipids that could be related to the very low myelin content of these nerves. Cholesterol and phospholipid levels were especially reduced. Cerebrosides and sulfatides were not modified in the same proportion, as could have been predicted from the degree of demyelination. This relative glycolipid increase could be due to the very high Schwann cell proliferation.

• A variant of metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD), Austin disease, is characterized by a multiple isozyme deficiency of arylsulfatase. A 31/2-year-old girl with progressive mental and physical deterioration had decreased activities of arylsulfatases A and B in the leukocytes, shown by acrylamide gel electrophoresis. Under the electron microscope, biopsy specimens of the brain and the peripheral nerve showed lamellar structures with socalled zebra bodies in the cytoplasmic processes of glial cells, granulomembranous inclusions with fingerprint configurations in neurons, and myelinlike material in Schwann cells. Results from our study suggest an intricate nature of this dysmetabolic disorder, which shows ultrastructural changes usually seen in classic MLD, a deficiency of arylsulfatase A only, concomitant with those seen in mucopolysaccharidoses such as Hurler and Sanfilippo syndromes.