Lewy Bodies
The Lewy ("leh-vee") Bodies are round fibrous clumps about the
size of a red blood cell, with a tangled mass at the center and a
spoke-like halo. They are found in numbers inside neurons affected
by Parkinson's Disease. They may also occur in other regions of
the nervous system, or in patients having other neurodegenerative
diseases, but they always accompany PD, therefore their absence is
acceptable evidence that PD was also absent. The presence of Lewy
Bodies, however, is less conclusive. They were found in nearly 6%
of people over 40, and 11% of those over 80, who had not shown
clinical symptoms of PD, although signs of nerve damage suggested
that PD may have been latent in those subjects.
Now (Oct 97) it is found that Lewy Bodies consist of a protein called
alpha-synuclein. Some patients with the familial variant of PD have
mutations of the gene that produces alpha-synuclein. However, the
overwhelming majority of PD cases are the non-familial, or sporadic,
type, and in those patients the alpha-synuclein in their Lewy Bodies
has been normal. Although it is not established that Lewy Bodies
cause the death of brain cells in PD (they may be merely one effect),
researchers are now looking for what causes alpha-synuclein to clump,
hoping it may lead to understanding and cure.
Cheers,
Joe
J. R. Bruman (818) 789-3694
3527 Cody Road
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403-5013
