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Parkinson's Disease: Distribution of Lewy Bodies in the Peripheral Autonomic Nervous System
Author(s) -
Takeda Shigeki,
Yamazaki Kazunori,
Miyakawa Teruo,
Arai Hiroyuki
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
neuropathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.701
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1440-1789
pISSN - 0919-6544
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1789.1994.tb00236.x
Subject(s) - autonomic nervous system , enteric nervous system , parasympathetic nervous system , medicine , peripheral nervous system , parkinson's disease , pathology , sympathetic nervous system , autonomic ganglion , ganglion , nervous system , central nervous system , neuroscience , anatomy , disease , biology , heart rate , blood pressure , psychiatry
This report concerns the presence and distribution of Lewy bodies in the peripheral nervous system of three patients with Parkinson's disease and ten age‐matched nonparkinsonian individuals. We examined the paravertebral and celiac ganglia as representatives of the sympathetic system; the submandibular ganglion as representative of the parasympathetic system; the esophagus, stomach, duodenum, jejunum, ileum and colon as representatives of the enteric system, and the trigeminal and dorsal spinal ganglia as representatives of the somatic sensory system. Lewy bodies were observed in the peripheral sympathetic and enteric systems of two of the three patients with Parkinson's disease. These two patients had numerous Lewy bodies in the submandibular ganglia. The third patient did not have Lewy bodies in the peripheral autonomic nervous system, nor did the ten control individuals studied. Lewy bodies were not detected in the somatic sensory system of any of the three parkinsonian patients. Our findings indicate that the peripheral autonomic system, including the parasympathetic system is affected in Parkinson's disease.