It is important to note that the three most frequently identified hereditary metabolic diseases—phenylketonuria (PKU), hyperphenylalaninemia, and congenital hypothyroidism—do not become clinically manifest in the neonatal period and are therefore discussed in a later portion of this chapter and in Chap. 39 (in the discussion of congenital hypothyroidism). This is fortunate, for it allows time to introduce preventive measures before the first symptoms appear. A number of other metabolic disorders, which can be recognized either by screening or by early signs, are synopsized below.
Included under this heading is a group of diseases that respond not to dietary restriction of a specific amino acid but to the oral supplementation of a specific vitamin. Some 30 vitamin-responsive aminoacidopathies are known (they are all rare, but the more frequent ones are listed in Table 40-3), and many of them result in injury to the central nervous system (CNS).
Pyridoxine-dependent seizures Pyridoxine dependency is the prototypic example of a genetic, vitamin-dependent biochemical disorder, albeit a rare disease. It is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait and is characterized by the early onset of convulsions, sometimes occurring in utero; failure to thrive; hypertonia–hyperkinesia; irritability; tremulous movements (“jittery baby”); exaggerated auditory startle (hyperacusis); and later, if untreated, by psychomotor retardation. The specific laboratory abnormality is an increased excretion of xanthurenic acid in response to a tryptophan load. There are decreased levels of pyridoxal-5-phosphate and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in brain tissue. The mutation is of the ALDH7A1 gene.
The neuropathology has been studied in only a few cases. One patient of our colleague R.D. Adams, a 13.5-year-old boy affected in the neonatal period, was left in a state of mental retardation, with pale optic discs and spastic legs; the brain weight was 350 g below normal. There was a decreased amount of central white matter in the cerebral hemispheres and a depletion of neurons in the thalamic nuclei and cerebellum, with gliosis (Lott et al). Most importantly, in pyridoxine deficiency, the administration of 50 to 100 mg of vitamin B6 suppresses the seizure state, and daily doses of 40 mg permit normal development.
Some patients with increased concentrations of serum phenylalanine in the neonatal period are unresponsive to measures that lower phenylalanine. They are usually found to have a defect in biopterin metabolism. The defect is usually the result of a mutation in tetrahydrobiopterin or BH4. If this condition is unrecognized and not treated promptly, it leads to seizures of both myoclonic and, later, grand mal types, combined with a poor level of responsiveness and generalized hypotonia. Swallowing difficulty is another prominent symptom. Within a few months, developmental delay becomes prominent. Unlike in PKU, phenylalanine hydroxylase enzyme levels are normal, but there is a lack of tetrahydrobiopterin, which is a cofactor of phenylalanine hydroxylase. Treatment consists of administration of tetrahydrobiopterin in a dosage of 7.5 mg/kg/d in combination with a low-phenylalanine diet. It is important to recognize this condition early in life by the measurement of urine pterins and to institute appropriate therapy before irreversible brain injury occurs. A later onset form with diurnally fluctuating dystonia has also been described but its nature is not certain.