LEWY BODIES IN THE LATERAL HYPOTHALAMUS - DO THEY IMPLY NEURONAL LOSS

Lewy bodies have been found in the hypothalamic lateral tuberal nucleu s (NTL) and the adjoining tuberomammillary nucleus (TM) in Parkinson's disease (PD). The NTL is severely atrophic in Huntington's disease; t he TM seems unaffected. In this study, we examined the NTL and the TM of seven PD patients and one patient with presumed PD to assess whethe r the presence of Lewy bodies indicated neuronal loss. Most Lewy bodie s were found in the TM, but they were also present in the NTL of seven of the eight patients. The number of NTL neurons in the PD patients w as similar to a group of 14 nonneurological controls, seven Alzheimer' s disease (AD) patients, and two AIDS patients with dementia. This cha llenges the hypothesis that Lewy bodies are a sign of significant cell death. The TM, whose cells could not be counted, did not seem deplete d in neuronal numbers, although occasional neuronophagia was observed.