title: Germanium myopathy: clinical and experimental pathological studies.
abstract: Pathological examinations were carried out on the skeletal muscle of a patient with germanium intoxication. The prominent histochemical finding was vacuolar myopathy with lipid excess, increased acid phosphatase activity and decreased cytochrome c oxidase activity. Ultrastructural lesions revealed a mitochondrial abnormality, autophagic vacuoles and accumulation of high electron-dense materials in deformed mitochondria and at the periphery of lipid droplets. Furthermore, the toxic effect of germanium on skeletal muscle was confirmed by the experimentally induced germanium myopathy, which showed autophagic degeneration, decreased cytochrome c oxidase activity and a mitochondrial abnormality with high electron-dense materials.
authors.affiliation: Third Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Japan.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Higuchi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Izumo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kuriyama
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suehara
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fukunaga
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Osame
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ohtsubo
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miyata
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D005857:Germanium / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009132:Muscles / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009135:Muscular Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D005857:Germanium