Lewy body disease pathology

• Both Lewy body dementia and Parkinson's disease are characterized by alpha-synuclein in neurons that form Lewy bodies (Salardini 2019)
  • In PD, Lewy bodies begin affecting subcortical areas (brainstem, thalamus, basal ganglia) before spreading to cortex (Salardini 2019)
  • In LBD, Lewy bodies have earlier cortical involvement (often coexisting with AD or vascular disease) affecting posterior parts of the brain (Salardini 2019)

References

Salardini, A. An Overview of Primary Dementias as Clinicopathological Entities. Semin. Neurol. 39, 153–166 (2019). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30925609/