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Scientific Correspondence

Nature 388, 839-840 (28 August 1997) |

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alpha-Synuclein in Lewy bodies

Maria Grazia Spillantini1, Marie Luise Schmidt2, Virginia M.-Y. Lee2, John Q. Trojanowski2, Ross Jakes3 & Michel Goedert3

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Lewy bodies, a defining pathological characteristic of Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB)1, 2, 3, 4, constitute the second most common nerve cell pathology, after the neurofibrillary lesions of Alzheimer's disease. Their formation may cause neurodegeneration, but their biochemical composition is unknown. Neurofilaments and ubiquitin are present5, 6, 7, 8, but it is unclear whether they are major components of the filamentous material of the Lewy body9,10. Here we describe strong staining of Lewy bodies from idiopathic Parkinson's disease with antibodies for alpha-synuclein, a presynaptic protein of unknown function which is mutated in some familial cases of the disease11. alpha-Synuclein may be the main component of the Lewy body in Parkinson's disease. We also show staining for alpha-synuclein of Lewy bodies from DLB, indicating that the Lewy bodies from these two diseases may have identical compositions.