Disorders of galactose metabolism

Abstract

Galactose metabolism occupies a central position in modern biology through its relationship to cell surface antigenicity and its metabolic function as a component of glycolipids and glycoproteins. Disturbances in three fundamental reaction sequences of this hexose have led to a delineation of pathways of the chemistry resulting in the understanding of its metabolic fate. These inherited disorders of metabolism are prototypes for the application of nutritional therapy of biochemical genetic defects.