MITOCHONDRIAL MYOPATHY AND MITOCHONDRIAL ENCEPHALOMYOPATHY

This paper is the first report of mitochondrial encephalomyopathy and mitochondrial myopathy diagnosed in China. It includes l case of mitochondrial encephalomyopathy with lactic acidemia and stroke-Iike episodes (MELAS), 5 cases of mitochondrial myopathy with skeletal muscles predominantly involved, and 2 cases of mitochondrial myopathy with external ocular muscles predominantly involved. The diagnosis was confirmed by muscle biopsies which revealed the "ragged-red-fiber" CRRF) in modified Gomori trichrome CMGT) stain, accumulation of lipie droplets in oil-red-O stain in frozen sections, and aggregates of abnormal mitochondria with complex paracrystalline inclusions and distorted cristae and osmiophilic dense bodies in their matrix in electron microscopy.