Parkinson's Disease, Dementia with Lewy Bodies, and Multiple System Atrophy as α-Synucleinopathies

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the most common neurodegenerative movement disorder (1). Neuropathologically, it is defined by nerve cell loss in the substantia nigra and the presence of Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites (2,3). In many cases, Lewy bodies are also found in the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus, the nucleus basalis of Meynert, the locus coeruleus, the raphe nuclei, the midbrain Edinger-Westphal nucleus, the cerebral cortex, the olfactory bulb, and some autonomic ganglia (4).