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Cell proliferation rate and nuclear morphometry in Roberts syndrome
Author(s) -
Pavlopoulos Petros M,
Konstantinidou Anastasia E,
Agapitos Emmanuel,
Davaris Panagiotis
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
clinical genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.543
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1399-0004
pISSN - 0009-9163
DOI - 10.1111/j.1399-0004.1998.tb03772.x
Subject(s) - craniofacial , biology , abnormality , cell growth , hypospadias , pathology , cell nucleus , karyotype , immunohistochemistry , growth retardation , craniofacial abnormality , anatomy , chromosome , medicine , microbiology and biotechnology , immunology , genetics , nucleus , pregnancy , psychiatry , gene
Roberts syndrome (RS) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized primarily by symmetric reduction anomalies of all limbs, growth retardation and craniofacial abnormalities. Most RS patients are reported to present a typical abnormality of their constitutive heterochromatin, accompanied by abnormal cytological growth characteristics. We present an extremely severe case of an RS fetus, karyotypically documented, with a clinical presentation including growth deficiency, tetraphocomelia, frontal meningocele, craniofacial abnormalities and penile enlargement with hypospadias. Nuclear morphometrical analysis in tissues of various organs revealed a reduced nuclear size in RS as compared to normal controls, and statistically significant differences in morphometric parameters related to the nuclear shape. Immunohistochemical study of the same organs showed a reduced expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen in the presented case, thus indicating a decreased cell proliferation rate in RS. Our results reconfirm previously reported findings in cultured fibroblasts of RS cases, thereby reinforcing on a histologic level, the hypothesis that reduced cell proliferation may be involved in the growth retardation and the reduction abnormalities observed in RS.