Alzheimer Disease: Duda JE

McKeith IG, Dickson DW, Lowe J, Emre M, O'Brien JT, Feldman H, Cummings J, Duda JE, Lippa C, Perry EK, Aarsland D, Arai H, Ballard CG, Boeve B, Burn DJ, Costa D, Del Ser T, Dubois B, Galasko D, Gauthier S, Goetz CG, Gomez-Tortosa E, Halliday G, Hansen LA, Hardy J, Iwatsubo T, Kalaria RN, Kaufer D, Kenny RA, Korczyn A, Kosaka K, Lee VM, Lees A, Litvan I, Londos E, Lopez OL, Minoshima S, Mizuno Y, Molina JA, Mukaetova-Ladinska EB, Pasquier F, Perry RH, Schulz JB, Trojanowski JQ, Yamada M, Anonymous00346. · Institute for Ageing and Health, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. · Neurology. · Pubmed #16237129 No free full text.

Abstract: The dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) Consortium has revised criteria for the clinical and pathologic diagnosis of DLB incorporating new information about the core clinical features and suggesting improved methods to assess them. REM sleep behavior disorder, severe neuroleptic sensitivity, and reduced striatal dopamine transporter activity on functional neuroimaging are given greater diagnostic weighting as features suggestive of a DLB diagnosis. The 1-year rule distinguishing between DLB and Parkinson disease with dementia may be difficult to apply in clinical settings and in such cases the term most appropriate to each individual patient should be used. Generic terms such as Lewy body (LB) disease are often helpful. The authors propose a new scheme for the pathologic assessment of LBs and Lewy neurites (LN) using alpha-synuclein immunohistochemistry and semiquantitative grading of lesion density, with the pattern of regional involvement being more important than total LB count. The new criteria take into account both Lewy-related and Alzheimer disease (AD)-type pathology to allocate a probability that these are associated with the clinical DLB syndrome. Finally, the authors suggest patient management guidelines including the need for accurate diagnosis, a target symptom approach, and use of appropriate outcome measures. There is limited evidence about specific interventions but available data suggest only a partial response of motor symptoms to levodopa: severe sensitivity to typical and atypical antipsychotics in approximately 50%, and improvements in attention, visual hallucinations, and sleep disorders with cholinesterase inhibitors.

McKeith I, Mintzer J, Aarsland D, Burn D, Chiu H, Cohen-Mansfield J, Dickson D, Dubois B, Duda JE, Feldman H, Gauthier S, Halliday G, Lawlor B, Lippa C, Lopez OL, Carlos Machado J, O'Brien J, Playfer J, Reid W, Anonymous00116. · Institute for Ageing and Health, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. · Lancet Neurol. · Pubmed #14693108 No free full text.

Abstract: Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is the second commonest cause of neurodegenerative dementia in older people. It is part of the range of clinical presentations that share a neuritic pathology based on abnormal aggregation of the synaptic protein alpha-synuclein. DLB has many of the clinical and pathological characteristics of the dementia that occurs during the course of Parkinson's disease. Here we review the current state of scientific knowledge on DLB. Accurate identification of patients is important because they have specific symptoms, impairments, and functional disabilities that differ from those of other common types of dementia. Severe neuroleptic sensitivity reactions are associated with significantly increased morbidity and mortality. Treatment with cholinesterase inhibitors is well tolerated by most patients and substantially improves cognitive and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Clear guidance on the management of DLB is urgently needed. Virtually unrecognised 20 years ago, DLB could within this decade be one of the most treatable neurodegenerative disorders of late life.

Duda JE. · Parkinson's Disease Research, Education and Clinical Center, Philadelphia VA Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pa. 19104, USA. · Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord. · Pubmed #14676464 No free full text.

Abstract: The neuropathology of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is characterized by the presence of Lewy bodies (LBs) and Lewy neurites (LNs) in specific systems throughout the brainstem, diencephalon, basal ganglia and neocortex. DLB shares many features with Parkinson's disease (PD) with respect to LB distribution in the brainstem, and there is recent evidence that Lewy pathology (LP), which consists of LBs and LNs, may progress in a systematic fashion through the brain regardless of clinical phenotype. Increasing evidence supports a central role for LNs in Lewy neurodegeneration and engenders a 'neuritic dystrophy hypothesis' described herein. LP formation also occurs in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other dementias, and it is unclear whether there is a common underlying pathophysiology in these diseases or if the LP merely represents a common final pathway. Cholinergic deficits are evident in both DLB and AD, with reductions in acetylcholine and abnormalities in nicotinic and muscarinic receptor expression in both diseases. Cholinergic deficits are greater in DLB than in AD, although generally there is less brain atrophy in DLB. The lower neurodegeneration and preservation of cholinergic receptors in DLB has important therapeutic implications because patients with DLB (vs. AD) may receive greater benefits from cholinergic pharmacologic therapy. Patients with DLB who display parkinsonian signs have severe dopamine neurotransmitter deficiencies similar to those in patients with PD, although the manifestation of these deficiencies is different. Both groups have striatal dopamine transporter deficiencies, but the striatal dopamine D2 receptors are reduced in DLB patients compared with PD and control subjects. D2 receptor deficiencies in DLB may be the cause of the relative lack of response to levodopa treatment and the severe adverse reaction to neuroleptics in these patients.

Beach TG, White CL, Hamilton RL, Duda JE, Iwatsubo T, Dickson DW, Leverenz JB, Roncaroli F, Buttini M, Hladik CL, Sue LI, Noorigian JV, Adler CH. · Civin Laboratory for Neuropathology, Sun Health Research Institute, 10515 West Santa Fe Drive, Sun City, AZ 85351, USA. · Acta Neuropathol. · Pubmed #18626651 links to  free full text

Abstract: The use of alpha-synuclein immunohistochemistry has altered our concepts of the cellular pathology, anatomical distribution and prevalence of Lewy body disorders. However, the diversity of methodology between laboratories has led to some inconsistencies in the literature. Adoption of uniformly sensitive methods may resolve some of these differences. Eight different immunohistochemical methods for demonstrating alpha-synuclein pathology, developed in eight separate expert laboratories, were evaluated for their sensitivity for neuronal elements affected by human Lewy body disorders. Identical test sets of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections from subjects diagnosed neuropathologically with or without Lewy body disorders were stained with the eight methods and graded by three observers for specific and nonspecific staining. The methods did not differ significantly in terms of Lewy body counts, but varied considerably in their ability to reveal neuropil elements such as fibers and dots. One method was clearly superior for revealing these neuropil elements and the critical factor contributing to its high sensitivity was considered to be its use of proteinase K as an epitope retrieval method. Some methods, however, achieved relatively high sensitivities with optimized formic acid protocols combined with a hydrolytic step. One method was developed that allows high sensitivity with commercially available reagents.

Giasson BI, Duda JE, Murray IV, Chen Q, Souza JM, Hurtig HI, Ischiropoulos H, Trojanowski JQ, Lee VM. · Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research and Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. · Science. · Pubmed #11062131 links to  free full text

Abstract: Aggregated alpha-synuclein proteins form brain lesions that are hallmarks of neurodegenerative synucleinopathies, and oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathogenesis of some of these disorders. Using antibodies to specific nitrated tyrosine residues in alpha-synuclein, we demonstrate extensive and widespread accumulations of nitrated alpha-synuclein in the signature inclusions of Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, the Lewy body variant of Alzheimer's disease, and multiple system atrophy brains. We also show that nitrated alpha-synuclein is present in the major filamentous building blocks of these inclusions, as well as in the insoluble fractions of affected brain regions of synucleinopathies. The selective and specific nitration of alpha-synuclein in these disorders provides evidence to directly link oxidative and nitrative damage to the onset and progression of neurodegenerative synucleinopathies.

Duda JE, Shah U, Arnold SE, Lee VM, Trojanowski JQ. · Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, The Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. · Exp Neurol. · Pubmed #10619569 No free full text.

Abstract: A family of homologous proteins known as alpha-, beta-, and gamma-synuclein are abundantly expressed in brain, especially in the presynaptic terminal of neurons. Although the precise function of these proteins remains unknown, alpha-synuclein has been implicated in synaptic plasticity associated with avian song learning as well as in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD), dementia with LBs (DLB), some forms of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and multiple system atrophy (MSA). Since olfactory dysfunction is a common feature of these disorders and the olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) of the olfactory epithelium (OE) regenerate throughout the lifespan, we used antibodies specific for alpha-, beta-, and gamma-synucleins to examine the olfactory mucosa of patients with PD, DLB, AD, MSA, and controls without a neurological disorder. Although antibodies to alpha- and beta-synucleins detected abnormal dystrophic neurites in the OE of patients with neurodegenerative disorders, similar pathology was also seen in the OE of controls. More significantly, we show here for the first time that alpha-, beta-, and gamma-synucleins are differentially expressed in cells of the OE and respiratory epithelium and that alpha-synuclein is the most abundant synuclein in the olfactory mucosa, where it is prominently expressed in ORNs. Moreover, alpha- and gamma-synucleins also were prominent in the OE basal cells, which include the progenitor cells of the ORNs in the OE. Thus, our data on synuclein expression within the OE may signify that synuclein plays a role in the regeneration and plasticity of ORNs in the adult human OE.