Disease Information for Gangliosidosis, generalized (GM1): Definition

A ganglioside storage disorder caused by beta-galactosidase deficiency with resulting accumulation of excessive amounts of ganglioside GM1 in the brain tissue with less severe abnormalities than those seen in other gangliosidoses and inconsistent phenotype;

ADULT VAR-Onset takes place in late teens or early adult life with cerebellar dysfunction, visual problems, and coarsening of facial features; Intellectual impairment is mild at first but intelligence tends to deteriorate in time;

INFANT VAR-A ganglioside storage disorder due to beta-galactosidase deficiency and abnormal accumulation of GM1 ganglioside in neurons and in hepatic, splenic and other histiocytes and in renal glomerular epithelium due; The symptoms appear shortly after birth; they include retarded psychomotor development, failure to thrive, startle reaction to sounds, feeding difficulty, hepatosplenomegaly, Hurler (gargoyle-like) facies (coarse facial features, macrocephaly, broad nose, frontal bossing, long philtrum, prominent maxilla, and macroglossia), bone defects similar to those seen in Hurler syndrome (mainly dysostosis multiplex and long bone and vertebral anomalies), and other abnormalities; Severe cerebral degeneration follows with death in the first two years of life usually due to bronchopneumonia; The affected infants are often blind, deaf, and quadriplegic--------[Jablonski/NIH database 2007]----------------

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