Ultrastructural and histochemical abnormalities of skeletal muscle in patients with chronic vitamin E deficiency.

We report muscle biopsy abnormalities in four patients with a chronic cholestatic syndrome, low serum vitamin E levels, absent reflexes, mild limb weakness, ataxia, and sensory loss in arms and legs. Skeletal muscle fibers contained multiple autofluorescent inclusions that show strong acid phosphatase and esterase reactivity. By electronmicroscopy, the inclusions lying between myofibrils were membrane-bound dense bodies having characteristics of both lysosomes and lipopigment material. The material was similar to that observed in vitamin E-deficient animals and probably formed in response to disordered intracellular lipid peroxidation.