To determine the prevalence of 6R-Tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) responsive phenylketonuria (PKU) in 53 cases of patients with various classification of hyperphenylalaninemia and PKU Excluding the BH4 deficient type referring to children's medical center in Iran (phenylalanine 360-2420 μmol/L), the single dose of 20 mg/kg (Kuvan®) and duration of 24 h was used. RESULTS Among the 4 different catego...

Phenylalanine hydroxylase (Pah)-deficient "PKU mice" have a mutation in the Pah gene that causes phenylketonuria (PKU) in humans. PKU produces cognitive deficits in humans if it is untreated. We report here the first evidence that the genetic mouse model of PKU (Pah(enu2)) also produces cognitive impairments. PKU mice were impaired on both odor discrimination reversal and latent learning compar...

BACKGROUND Phenylketonuria (PKU) was the first disorder in which severe neurocognitive dysfunction could be prevented by dietary treatment. However, despite this effect, neuropsychological outcome in PKU still remains suboptimal and the phenylalanine-restricted diet is very demanding. To improve neuropsychological outcome and relieve the dietary restrictions for PKU patients, supplementation of...

Children with phenylketonuria (PKU) follow a diet with very low intakes of natural protein, which is devoid of food sources of the omega-3 docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). A resulting DHA depletion has been demonstrated in PKU children and may account for detectable subtle neurological deficits that are not explained by variation in plasma phenylalanine concentrations. We supplemented 36 children wi...

Cognitive deficits, learning difficulties, and emotional problems occur at significantly higher rates in individuals with phenylketonuria (PKU) than in the general population. The relationship between elevated blood phenylalanine (Phe) levels and the severity of these problems often remain unrecognized. Children and adults with PKU require ongoing screening so that referrals to psychologists or...

Phenylketonuria (PKU), if not detected and treated in newborns, causes severe neurological dysfunction and cognitive and behavioral deficiencies. Despite the biochemical characterization of PKU, the molecular mechanisms underlying PKU-associated brain dysfunction remain poorly understood. The aim of this study was to gain insights into the pathogenesis of this neurological damage by analyzing p...

OBJECTIVE The treatment of phenylketonuria (PKU) in children and adults has been difficult because of erosion of dietary adherence, leading to poor school performance, impairment of executive functioning, loss of IQ, and deterioration of white matter in the brain. Mutant PKU mice produced by exposure to N-ethyl-N'-nitrosourea (ENU) were used to examine the effect of large neutral amino acid (LN...

Phenylketonuria (PKU) is an inborn error of amino acid metabolism with an autosomal recessive inheritance caused in most cases by mutations in the phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) gene. PKU has wide allelic heterogeneity. Here we report a novel heterozygous substitution (c.1223G>T (p.Arg408Leu)) in the PAH gene in an Iranian PKU family. The patient was 19-yr-old female with diagnosis of moderate...

Phenylketonuria (PKU) was the first inherited metabolic disease in which treatment was found to prevent clinical features of the disorder; dietary management was established almost 60 years ago. The institution of a low-phenylalanine (Phe) diet in the first few weeks of life was made possible by Guthrie neonatal screening, which further increased effectiveness of therapy. Indeed, neonatal diagn...

Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a metabolic disorder, in which loss of phenylalanine hydroxylase activity results in neurotoxic levels of phenylalanine. We used the Pah(enu2/enu2) PKU mouse model in short- and long-term studies of enzyme substitution therapy with PEGylated phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PEG-PAL conjugates) from 4 different species. The most therapeutically effective PAL (Av, Anabaena va...