Deficiency of acyl-CoA:dihydroxyacetone phosphate acyltransferase in thrombocytes of Zellweger patients: a simple postnatal diagnostic test.

Activity of acyl-CoA: dihydroxyacetone phosphate acyltransferase, a membrane-bound peroxisomal enzyme in mammalian liver cells catalyzing the first step in the biosynthesis of etherphospholipids, is detectable in thrombocytes isolated from blood of human controls. However, in thrombocytes from patients affected by the cerebro-hepato-renal (Zellweger) syndrome, the activity of this enzyme is severely reduced, permitting rapid postnatal biochemical detection of this severe inborn disease, by measuring the enzyme activity in patients' thrombocytes.