[Parkinson's disease: the distribution of Lewy bodies in the peripheral autonomic nervous system].

The distribution of Lewy bodies (LBs) in the peripheral autonomic nervous system was examined in the following 3 groups: group A, 10 patients with Parkinson's disease (age range, 56-82 years); group B, 5 nonparkinsonian patients with many LBs in the central nervous system (CNS) (range, 26-79 years); group C, 176 nonparkinsonian patients without LBs in the CNS (range, 7-107 years). In group A, LBs were found in the paravertebral and/or celiac sympathetic ganglia in 9 cases, enteric nervous system in all cases, cardiac and pelvic plexuses in 4 cases each, and adrenal medullae in 3 cases. They were almost exclusively intraneural . LBs were also found in group B: sympathetic ganglia in 4 cases, enteric nervous system in 5 cases, and pelvic plexus and adrenal medullae in one case each. Interestingly, both the distribution and the number of LBs in a patient with diffuse Lewy body disease were similar to those in group A. LBs, although definitely fewer in number, were also found in group C: sympathetic ganglia in 5 out of 136 cases; enteric nervous system in 8 out of 40 cases; and cardiac plexus in 2 out of 25 cases. All of these positive cases were over age 60. The wide occurrence of LBs in the peripheral autonomic nervous system in patients with Parkinson's disease may play an important role in causing a variety of autonomic symptoms in the disease. On the other hand, LBs have been occasionally found in nonparkinsonian patients over age 60.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)