Lewy Body Dementia

Question 1

Macroscopic pathological changes seen in Lewy body dementia include:-

Answer 1

Cerebral atrophy (but less marked than in Alzheimer's)
Pallor of the substantia nigra

Question 2

Microscopic changes include

Answer 2

Intracellular protein accumulations called ‘Lewy bodies’. The major component of a Lewy body is alpha synuclein.
Neurofibrillary tangles
Senile plaques

Question 3

Lewy bodies

Answer 3

Lewy bodies are abnormal aggregates of protein. They consist of alpha synuclein but as they grow start to draw in other proteins such as ubiquitin.

They are found mainly within the brainstem in Parkinson’s disease but are found through almost all brain areas in Lewy body dementia.

Classic brainstem Lewy bodies are spherical intraneuronal cytoplasmic inclusions, characterised by hyaline eosinophilic cores, concentric lamellar bands, narrow pale halos, and immunoreactivity for alpha synuclein and ubiquitin. In contrast, cortical lewy bodies typically lack a halo.