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Lafora's disease

An ultrastructural and histochemical study

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Summary

Cerebral biopsies of three patients aged 22, 18 and 16 years with myoclonic epilepsy contained Lafory bodies. Two were a brother and sister of consanguineous parents. The Lafora bodies occurred in most neurons but not in glial cells. The ultrastructure of these bodies showed a fibrillar and granular material in the perikaryon and neuropile. In some neurons small Lafora bodies were delimited by a double membrane, suggesting that in early phases they have a membrene which disappears when they become more developed. Other non-specific neuron alterations are described. One of the cases presented in the liver PAS positive bodies of a structure different from the Lafora bodies.

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Ramón y Cajal, S., Blanes, A., Martinez, A. et al. Lafora's disease. Acta Neuropathol 30, 189–196 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00688920

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