[Clinical, preclinical and prenatal diagnosis of congenital sphingolipidoses by determining lysosomal hydrolases (author's transl)].

Sphingolipidoses in infancy and adulthood and associated metabolic disturbances are caused by a recessively inherited, circumscribed lysosomal enzyme deficiency in the catabolism of various structural tissue substances. After presenting detailed methods for the quantitative assay of activities of lysosomal hydrolytic enzymes in leukocytes, serum , fibroblasts, urine and organ tissue with the aid of synthetic chromogenic and fluorescent substrates the signigicance of these methods for clinical diagnosis, for the detection of homozygote persons before developing clinical symptoms (preclinical diagnosis), for the preventive prenatal diagnosis and forthe detection of heterozygote carriers is described for the following diseases: Deficiency of hexosaminidase A and B, deficiency of beta-glucosidase, deficiency or arylsulfatase A, deficiency of alpha-galactosidase, deficiency of alpha-glucosidase.