INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, vol.113, no.6, pp.777-785, 2003 (SCI-Expanded)
In the present work, we describe a large Turkish family (N=39) with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, which is the most commonly inherited peripheral neuropathy. The subjects were from four generations, including six hemizygote patients and nine heterozygote carrier females: Symptoms appeared in late childhood in males (mean age=13.5) but later in carrier females (mean age=33.5). The peripheral nerve conduction was more severely affected in males than females. Genomic DNA was isolated from peripheral white blood cells. Using SSCP technique (single strand conformation polymorphism analysis); abnormal patterns of migration were observed in 15 subjects: 6 of them were hemizygote males and 9 were heterozygote carrier females. We identified a mutation of the Cx32 gene, consisting of a guanine to adenine transition at position 271 (271 G-A). The results suggested relations between degenerative processes and position of Cx32 mutations.