98 research outputs found
LEWY BODIES IN PARKINSONISM SHARE COMPONENTS WITH INTRANEURONAL PROTEIN BODIES OF NORMAL BRAINS
Histochemical characteristics of the Lewy bodies, in catecholamine
neurons of 10 Parkinsonian patients, were compared to those of the
spherical protein bodies, the basic protein-rich markers of
catecholamine neurons in man. Special methods for proteins and lipids
showed that the core of the Lewy bodies, in the neurons of the locus
coeruleus and the substantia nigra, contains basic proteins and lipids
normally found in the protein bodies. Acid fuchsin and the
lipid-soluble fluorescent dye rhodamine B stained the entire core of the
Lewy body in the parkinsonian brains and the entire sphere of the
protein body in the control brains. Bromsulfophthalein, another acidic
dye, which selectively binds to the enzyme gluthathione-S-transferase,
had affinity only for a ring-like lamina at the outer layer of the core
of the Lewy body and for the outer rim of the protein body. These
results demonstrate that Lewy bodies and protein bodies contain similar
macromolecular components, that is lipids and two different types of
proteins, which also show similar stratification in the two structures.
On the other hand, the presence in several neurons of Parkinsonian
patients, of aggregates representing transitional forms between protein
bodies and Lewy bodies, indicates that abnormalities of protein bodies
precede, and are somehow linked to Lewy body production
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