Lewy body dementia
Resources for Patients and Caregivers
Lewy body dementia (LBD) is a disease associated with abnormal deposits of a protein called alpha-synuclein in the brain. These deposits, called Lewy bodies, affect chemicals in the brain whose changes, in turn, can lead to problems with thinking, movement, behavior, and mood.
Cluster Number:
Wiki Number: 26-Lewy Bodies Disorder/Dementia
Diagnosis:
US Patients: American actor and comedian Robin Williams committed suicide in 2014 with Parkinson’s and Lewy Bodies.
World Patients:
Sex Ratio:
Age Onset: after age 50 with life expectancy of 8 years after diagnosis
Brain Area: The SNCA gene encodes the alpha-synuclein protein which is a building-block of Lewy bodies.
Symptoms: acting out dreams, visual hallucinations, attention difficulties, slowness of movements
Progression: dementia and Parkinson’s patients may also be affected. Cause cognitive fluctuations.
Causes: clumps of protein form on brain neurons causing heart and digestive functions, low blood pressure and apathy.
Medications: several
Therapies: Cognitive training, deep-brain and transcranial direct current stimulations have been used.
Resources for Physicians, Counselors and Researchers
4 CURRENT ARTICLES
FROM PUBMED
The world-wide medical research
reports chosen for each diagnosis
Clicking each title opens the
PubMed article’s summary-abstract.
- The Gut-Brain Axis and Its Relation to Parkinson's Disease: A Reviewby Emily M Klann on January 24, 2022
Parkinson's disease is a chronic neurodegenerative disease characterized by the accumulation of misfolded alpha-synuclein protein (Lewy bodies) in dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra and other related circuitry, which contribute to the development of both motor (bradykinesia, tremors, stiffness, abnormal gait) and non-motor symptoms (gastrointestinal issues, urinogenital complications, olfaction dysfunction, cognitive impairment). Despite tremendous progress in the field, the exact...
- Impaired Sphingolipid Hydrolase Activities in Dementia with Lewy Bodies and Multiple System Atrophyby T S Usenko on January 23, 2022
The synucleinopathies are a group of neurodegenerative diseases characterized by the oligomerization of alpha-synuclein protein in neurons or glial cells. Recent studies provide data that ceramide metabolism impairment may play a role in the pathogenesis of synucleinopathies due to its influence on alpha-synuclein accumulation. The aim of the current study was to assess changes in activities of enzymes involved in ceramide metabolism in patients with different synucleinopathies (Parkinson's...
- Parsing heterogeneity within dementia with Lewy bodies using clustering of biological, clinical, and demographic databy Carla Abdelnour on January 22, 2022
CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that there are subgroups of DLB patients with different biological, clinical, and demographic characteristics. These findings may have implications in the diagnosis and prognosis of DLB, as well as in the treatment response in clinical trials.
- Impact of fatty acid-binding proteins and dopamine receptors on α-synucleinopathyby Ichiro Kawahata on January 22, 2022
An aging society leads to an increased number of patients with cognitive and movement disorders, such as Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies. α-Synuclein accumulation in neuronal cells is a pathological hallmark of α-synucleinopathies. Aberrant soluble oligomeric units of α-synuclein are toxic and disrupt neuronal homeostasis. Fatty acids partially regulate α-synuclein accumulation as well as oligomerization, and fatty acid-binding protein (FABP) associates with the α-synuclein...