Researchers Study How the Precursors of Lewy Bodies Develop

The hallmark of Parkinson's disease is the presence of Lewy bodies. These toxic clumps of protein seem to be a key to LBD also. In April 2010, researchers published the results of a study examining the development of the precursors to Lewy bodies.

A protein called alpha-synuclein is naturally found in an "unfolded" state, but it can accumulate pathologically and form large fibrous clumps. Those large clumps of alpha-synuclein are found within Lewy bodies. Using an imaging procedure, researchers have now been able to study how individual molecules of alpha-synuclein (so-called monomers) aggregate into intermediate forms (so-called oligomers). The oligomers develop into the large fibrous clumps found in Lewy bodies.

The research was carried out by scientists at the University of Leuven in Belgium. The press release is available, as is the abstract of the scientific article from Biophysical Journal.