Odds are, you've heard the term before, Lewy Body Dementia, it's the 2nd most common dementia next to Alzheimer's. But what exactly is a "Lewy Body?" and what causes it?
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| Various aggregations of Lewy Bodies in nerve cells under a microscope |
A Lewy Body is a spherical deposit of protein that appears inside of nerve cells, displacing normal cell components, and disrupting the function of that cell. Originally discovered in 1910, by Fritz Heinrich Lewy, a Lewy Body was discovered in the brain tissue of patients acting different than normal. These protein deposits can cause Parkinson's Disease, Lewy Body Dementia, and Multiple System Atrophy.
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| A model of a Protein Chaperone in charge of folding proteins |
These bodies of proteins form as a malfunction in a cell's aggresome functions. Aggresome is what happens when a cell compiles misfolded protiens and and stores them in one location to be refolded by molecular chaperones. Unfortunately when the cell degenerates too fast and aggresome can't keep up with the excess of folded proteins, the deposit grows and if it grows in the brain stem, a Lewy Body is formed. If enough Lewy Bodies form, then the individual will develop a disease like LBD (lewy body dementia) or Parkinson's.
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