Metabolic disorders

A metabolic disorder is a medical disorder which affects the production of energywithin individual human (or animal) cells. Most metabolic disorders are genetic, though a few are "acquired" as a result of diet, toxins, infections, etc. Genetic metabolic disorders are also known as inborn errors of metabolism.

In general, the genetic metabolic disorders are caused by genetic defects that result in missing or improperly constructed enzymesnecessary for some step in the metabolic process of the cell.

The three largest classes of metabolic disorders are:

• Glycogen storage diseases-- disorders affecting carbohydratemetabolism
• Fatty oxidation disorders-- disorders affecting the metabolism of fat components
• Mitochondrial disorders-- disorders affecting the mitochondriawhich are the central "powerhouses" of the cells.

A fourth class, the channelopathies(some of which cause periodic paralysisand/or malignant hyperthermia) could be considered to be metabolic disorders as well, though they are not always classified as such. These disorders affect the ion channelsin the cell and organellemembranes, resulting in improper or inefficient transfer of ionsthrough the membranes.

There are also a number of other metabolic disorders (such as myoadenylate deaminase deficiency) which do not cleanly fit into any of the above classifications.fr:Maladie métabolique

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic+disorders Wikipedia article Metabolic disorders.