Abnormal Accumulation of Galactosylceramide in the Kidney of Twitcher Mouse

The kidney tissue of the twitcher mice, a neurological mutant caused by a genetic deficiency of galactosylceramidase, contains enormously increased amounts, up to 50 times normal, of galactosylceramide. The finding is in sharp contrast with those in the enzymatically equivalent human disease, globoid cell leukodystrophy (Krabbe disease), in which no specific abnormal accumulation of galactosylceramide occurs despite the same genetic block in the catabolic pathway. This indicates that the same genetic defect can result in entirely different consequences in different species. Caution must be exercised even when "authentic animal models" are utilized for studies of human diseases.