Biology question 3..lysosomal disease?

Question

Imagine that you are a pediatrician and one of your patients is a newborn who may have a lysosomal storage disease. You remove some cells from the patient and examine them under the microscope. What would you expect to see? Design a series of tests that could reveal whether the patient is indeed suffering from a lysosomal storage disease.

Answer 1

So, first what is a lysosome? Lysosomes are special vesicles in the cells which store large amounts of acidic material. When the cell wants to destroy something, it is sent into the lysosome. The lysosome storage disease means that the lysosome is not breaking something down correctly, and because of this it builds up inside of the lysosome. You will therefore see enlarged or burst lysosomes when you look in the microscope.