-A +A  Lewy Body Pathology - Not the First Problem Sign of
Parkinson’s?  Lewy body pathology is found in the brains of 10
to 30% of older adults without any parkinsonian motor symptoms
and is called incidental Lewy body disease (ILBD). Research
suggests that ILBD may represent a ‘preclinical’ stage of
Parkinson’s disease (PD) that occurs before symptoms develop.
However, researchers have yet to establish a clear understanding
of the relationship between the presence of Lewy body pathology
and the dysfunction of neurons and cell loss.  Researchers
theorized that if ILBD is an early stage of Parkinson’s disease,
neurons in the areas of the brain affected earliest in
Parkinson’s disease would display some type of dysfunction in
ILBD. Comparing brain tissue of 63 autopsied individuals with PD
(13), ILBD (33) and normal controls (17), researchers examined
neurons in the main dopamine producing area of the brain, the
substantia nigra. They looked for reduced production of an
enzyme called tyrosine hydroxylas (TH),