BCL-2 AND BAX PROTEINS IN LEWY BODIES FROM PATIENTS WITH PARKINSONS-DISEASE AND DIFFUSE LEWY BODY DISEASE

Double-labelling immunohistochemistry of Bcl-2 and Bar, and ubiquitin (as a marker of Lewy bodies) was examined in the brains of patients wi th Parkinson's disease and Diffuse Lewy body disease to learn about po ssible modifications of protein expression and the presence of Lewy bo dies, Bcl-2 and Bar immunoreactivities were observed in Lewy body-bear ing and non-Lewy body-bearing neurons in patients with parkinsonism. T hese results show that Bcl-2 and Bar are probably not implicated in Le wy body formation and that the presence of Lewy bodies does not have a direct impact on the expression of Bcl-2 and Bar proteins in individu al neurons. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.