Abstract
Detailed behavioral and biochemical investigation of patients with inborn errors of metabolism, especially those intrinsic to the nervous system, may provide many clues to the genetic predisposition underlying human behavioral traits. Relatives of such patients and other individuals with homologous enzymatic lesions due to alleles specifying intermediate activity need to be studied as well. Among the metabolic disorders discussed selectively here, some masquerade as schizophrenia, manic-depressive illness, or hyperactivity syndrome of childhood, providing examples of the striking heterogeneity to be found for these common behavioral disorders.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Austin, J., Armstrong, D., Fouch, S., Mitchell, C., Stumpf, D., Shearer, L., and Briner, O. (1968). Metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD). VIII. MLD in adults; diagnosis and pathogenesis.Arch. Neurol. 18:225–240.
Baldessarini, R. J. (1975). Metabolic hypotheses in schizophrenia.New Engl. J. Med. 292:527–528.
Berman, J. L., and Ford, R. (1970). Intelligence quotients and intelligence loss in patients with phenylketonuria and some variant states.J. Pediat. 77:764–770.
Beutler, E., Baluda, M. D., Sturgeon, P., and Day, R. W. (1966). The genetics of galactose-1-phosphate uridyl transferase deficiency.J. Lab. Clin. Med. 68:646–658.
Blaskovics, M. E., and Nelson, T. E. (1971). Phenylketonuria and its variations: A review of recent developments.Calif. Med. 115:42–57.
Bock, R. O., and Kolakowski, D. (1973). Further evidence of sex-linked major-gene influence on human spatial visualizing ability.Am. J. Hum. Genet. 25:1–14.
Brady, R. O. (1972). Sphingolipidoses. In Albers, R. W., Siegel, G. J., Katzman, R., and Agranoff, B. W. (eds.),Basic Neurochemistry, Little, Brown, Boston, pp. 485–495.
Cantwell, D. P. (1972). Psychiatric illness in families of hyperactive children.Arch. Gen. Psychiat. 27:414–417.
Cohen, P. T. W., Omenn, G. S., Motulsky, A. G., Chen, S.-H., and Giblett, E. R. (1973). Restricted variation in the glycolytic enzymes of human brain and erythrocytes,Nature New Biol. 241:229–233.
Cohn, C. K., Dunner, D. L., and Axelrod, J. (1970). Reduced catechol-O-methyl transferase activity in red blood cells of women with primary affective disorder,Science 170:1323–1324.
Dancis, J., and Levitz, M. (1972). Abnormalities of branched-chain amino acid metabolism [hypervalinemia, branched-chain ketonuria (maple syrup urine disease), isovaleric acidemia]. In Wyngaarden, J. B., Stanbury, J. B., and Fredrickson, D. S. (eds.),The Metabolic Basis of Inherited Disease, 3rd ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, pp. 426–439.
Ehrhardt, A. A., and Money, J. (1967). Progestin-induced hermaphroditism: IQ and psychosexual identity in a study of ten girls.J. Sex Res. 3:83–100.
Freeman, J. M., Finkelstein, J. D., and Mudd, S. H. (1975). Folate-responsive homocystinuria and “schizophrenia”.New Engl. J. Med. 292:491–496.
Gartler, S. M., Liskay, R. M., and Gant, N. (1973). Two functional X chromosomes in human fetal oocytes.Exp. Cell. Res. 82:464–466.
Goodwin, D. W., Schulsinger, F., Hermansen, L., Guze, S. B., and Winokur, G. (1973). Alcohol problems in adoptees raised apart from alcoholic biological parents.Arch. Gen. Psychiat. 28:238–243.
Kalckar, H. M., Kinoshita, J. H., and Donnell, G. N. (1973). Galactosemia: Biochemistry, genetics, pathophysiology and developmental aspects. In Gaull, G. E. (ed.),Biology of Brain Dysfunction, Vol. 1, Plenum, New York, pp. 31–88.
Knox, E. W. (1972). Phenylketonuria. In Stanbury, J. B., Wyngaarden, J. B., and Fredrickson, D. S. (eds.),The Metabolic Basis of Inherited Disease, 3rd ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, pp. 266–295.
McGuire, L. S., and Omenn, G. S. (1975). Congenital adrenal hyperplasia. I. Family studies of IQ.Behav. Genet. 5:165–173.
McGuire, L. S., Ryan, K. O., and Omenn, G. S. (1975). Congenital adrenal hyperplasia. II. Cognitive and behavioral studies.Behav. Genet. 5:175–188.
McKusick, V. A. (1972).Heritable Disorders of Connective Tissue, 4th ed., Mosby, St. Louis.
McKusick, V. A. (1975).Mendelian Inheritance in Man: Catalogs of Autosomal Dominant, Autosomal Recessive and X-linked Phenotypes, 4th ed., Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
Money, J. (1963). Cytogenetic and psychosexual incongruities with a note on space-form blindness.Am. J. Psychol. 119:820–827.
Money, J., and Lewis, V. (1966). IQ, genetics and accelerated growth: adrenogenital syndrome.Bull. Johns Hopkins Hosp. 118:365–373.
Morrison, J. R., and Stewart, M. A. (1971). A family study of the hyperactive child syndrome.Biol. Psychiat. 3:189–195.
Morrison, J. R., and Stewart, M. A. (1973). The psychiatric status of the legal families of adopted hyperactive children.Arch. Gen. Psychiat. 28:888–891.
Murphy, D. L., and Weiss, R. (1972). Reduced monoamine oxidase activity in blood platelets from bipolar depressed patients.Am. J. Psychol. 128:1351–1357.
Nadler, H. L., Inouye, T., and Hsia, D. Y. Y. (1969). Classical galactosemia: a study of 55 cases. In Hsia, D. Y. Y. (ed.),Galactosemia, Charles C Thomas, Springfield, Ill., pp. 127–139.
Neufeld, E. F., and Barton, R. W. (1973). Genetic disorders of mucopolysaccharide metabolism. In Gaull, G. E. (ed.),Biology of Brain Dysfunction, Vol. 1. Plenum, New York, pp. 1–30.
Nyhan, W. L. (1972). Behavioral phenotypes in organic genetic disease.Pediat. Res. 6:1–9.
Nyhan, W. L. (1973). Disorders of nucleic acid metabolism. In Gaull, G. E. (ed.),Biology of Brain Dysfunction, Vol. 1, Plenum, New York, pp. 265–300.
Nyhan, W. L. (ed.) (1974).Heritable Disorders of Amino Acid Metabolism: Patterns of Clinical Expression and Genetic Variation, Wiley, New York.
Omenn, G. S., and Motulsky, A. G. (1972). Biochemical genetics and the evolution of human behavior. In Ehrman, L., Omenn, G. S., and Caspari, E. (eds.),Genetics, Environment, and Behavior: Implications for Educational Policy, Academic Press, New York, pp. 129–179.
Paine, R. S. (1957). The variability in manifestations of untreated patients with phenylketonuria (phenylpyruvic aciduria).Pediatrics 20:290–301.
Perry, T. L., Urquhart, N., McClean, J., Evans, M. E., Hansen, S., Davidson, A. G. F., Applegarth, D. A., MacLeod, P. J., and Lock, J. E. (1975). Glycine accumulation in brain in nonketotic hyperglycinemia.New Engl. J. Med. 292:1269–1273.
Refsum, S. (1946). Heredopathia atatica polyneuritiformis.Acta Psychiat. Scand. Suppl. 38:9.
Sandler, M., Youdim, M. B. H., and Hanington, E. (1974). A phenylethylamine oxidizing defect in migraine.Nature 250:335–337.
Schuckit, M. A. (1972). Family history and half-sibling research in alcoholism. In Seixas, F. A., Omenn, G. S., Burk, E. D., and Eggieston, S. A. (eds.),Nature and Nurture in Alcoholism, Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 197:121–124.
Scriver, C. R., and Rosenberg, L. E. (1973).Amino Acid Metabolism and Its Disorders, Saunders, Philadelphia.
Scriver, C. R., Whelan, D. T., Clow, D. L., and Dallaire, L. (1970). Cystinuria: Increased prevalence in patients with mental disease.New Engl. J. Med. 283:783–786.
Silberberg, D. H. (1969). Maple syrup urine disease metabolited in cerebellum cultures.J. Neurochem. 16:1141–1146.
Slater, E., and Cowie, V. (1971).The Genetics of Mental Disorders, Oxford University Press, London, p. 250.
Smith, I., Clayton, B. E., and Wolff, O. H. (1975). New variant of phenylketonuria with progressive neurological illness unresponsive to phenylalanine restriction.Lancet 1:1108–1111.
Stanbury, J. B., Wyngaarden, J. B., and Fredrickson, D. S. (eds.) (1972).The Metabolic Basis of Inherited Disease, 3rd ed., McGraw-Hill, New York.
Strand, L. J., Felsher, B. W., Redeker, A. G., and Marver, H. D. (1970). Enzymatic abnormalities in heme biosynthesis in intermittent acute porphyria: Decreased hepatic conversion of porphotilinogen to porphyrins and increased delta-amino acid synthetase activity.Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 67:1315–1319.
Weinshilboum, R., and Axelrod, J. (1971). Serum dopamine-β-hydroxylase.Circ. Res. 28:307–315.
Weinshilboum, R. M., Raymond, F. A., Elveback, L. R., and Weidman, W. H. (1974). Correlation of erythrocyte catechol-O-methyltransferase activity between siblings.Nature 252:490–491.
Weinshilboum, R. M., Schrott, H. G., Raymond, F. A., Weidman, W. H., and Elveback, L. R. (1975). Inheritance of very low serum dopamine-beta-hydroxylase.Am. J. Hum. Genet. 27:573–585.
Wise, C. D., and Stein, L. (1973). Dopamine-β-hydroxylase deficits in the brains of schizophrenic patients.Science 181:344–347.
Wood, S., and MacLeod, P. M. (1974). Serum alpha-fucosidase deficiency: A new polymorphism in man?Am. J. Hum. Genet. 26:94A.
Wright, S. W., and Tarjan, G. (1957). Phenylketonuria.A. M. A. J. Dis. Child. 93:405–419.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Supported by GM15253 and Research Career Development Award GM43122.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Omenn, G.S. Inborn errors of metabolism: Clues to understanding human behavioral disorders. Behav Genet 6, 263–284 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01065723
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01065723