FIGURE 2.2. Quadriceps femorismuscle biopsy of a young
woman with right spastic
hemiplegiasinceinfancyduetoalargeleftmiddlecerebralarteryi
nfarctandporencephaly.Shealso has several smaller cerebral
infarcts bilaterally, demonstrated by magnetic resonance
imaging. She has acquired microcephaly, persistent lactic
acidosis, and generalized weakness that has progressed over
the last 2 years, hence the muscle biopsy at this time. The
clinical diagnosis is
MELAS(mitochondrialencephalopathywithlacticacidosisandst
rokelikeepisodes)syndrome. Hematoxylin-eosin(H-
E)stainshowsvariationinmyofiberdiameterandseveralfiberswit
hbasophilicsarcoplasmicmasses,correspondingtoragged-
redfibersclearlyidentifiedwithmodified Gomoritrichrome
(GT) stain because these subsarcolemmalzones are irregular
in shape and intensely red in color, whereas the normal
myofibrils are green. Glycogen is abundantly stained (p-
aminosalicylicacid, PAS) in these subsarcolemmalmasses
and is digested by diastase (not shown); one fibershows loss
of PAS staining except for its ragged-red margins. Neutral
lipid, demonstrated by oil red O (ORO), is not increased
within myofibersbut is globular in the
perimysium.Acridineorange(AO)fluorochromeshowsnoorang
e-redfluorescenceintheragged-red zones or within myofibrils.
The oxidative enzymatic stains nicotinamideadenine
dinucleotide (NADH), succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), and
cytochrome c oxidase (COX) all exhibit intense mitochondrial
enzymatic activity in the subsarcolemmalzones
corresponding to ragged-red fibers. Two myofibersshow no
COX activity and a few others show weak activity, strong
evidence of a mitochondrial defect, though nonspecific for
which mitochondrial disease. Frozen sections. ×250 (H-E, GT,
ORO, AO), ×400 (PAS, NADH, SDH, COX). From a colorplate in
SarnatHB,Marı´n-
Garc´ıaJ.Pathologyofmitochondrialencephalomyopathies.Can
JNeurolSci 2005;32:152–166. With permission of the
Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences.