Sphingomyelin in Lewy Inclusion Bodies in Parkinson's Disease

THE INCLUSION bodies, which were later to receive his name, were first described by Lewy 1 in the substantia innominata and the dorsal vagal nucleus in paralysis agitans. Tretiakoff 2 described these bodies in the substantia nigra. Greenfield and Bosanquet 3 found Lewy bodies in the substantia nigra in 18 of 19 cases of idiopathic paralysis agitans and in the locus ceruleus in the 19th case (substantia nigra not present). In none of the ten cases of postencephalitic parkinsonism and none of the 22 control subjects of the same age but without parkinsonism were Lewy bodies found. Lipkin 4 studied 53 patients with Parkinson's disease and found Lewy bodies in 44% of the postencephalitic cases and 86% of the idiopathic cases. Bethlem and den Hartog Jager 5 corroborated the findings of Greenfield and Bosanquet 3 in an investigation of the substantia nigra and locus ceruleus in 15 patients with