Lewy body

Parkinson's disease is a disorder that affects neuromotor functioning. The disease takes its name from the doctor James Parkinson who published "An Essay on the Shaking Palsy" in 1817 with the first detailed description of the condition.

The pathology of the disease is characterized by decreased neuromelanin pigmentation in the substantia nigra and locus coeruleus as consequence of loss of dopaminergic pigmented neurons. This results in diminished dopamine synthesis.

Neuronal loss is accompanied by death of astrocytes and activation of the microglia. Lewy bodies (abnormal clusters of protein that develop inside nerve cells)are also a key pathological feature of PD.

While no correlation between race and the level of neuromelanin in the substantia nigra has been reported, the significantly lower incidence of Parkinson's in blacks than in whites has "prompt some to suggest that cutaneous melanin might somehow serve to protect the neuromelanin in substantia nigra from external toxins.