Accumulation of acid-fast lipochrome bodies in glial cells of the midbrain nigral lesion in Parkinson's disease.

To confirm or refute the proposed link between nocardiae and Parkinson's disease (PD), we investigated the presence of acid-fast spherical structures similar to filterable nocardiae at the midbrain nigral lesions of three patients with PD. Many clusters of acid-fast lipochrome bodies were dense around blood vessels in the two patients with Hoehn and Yahr stage II and III PD. These clusters were present in the vicinity of melanin-pigmented neurons in the three PD patients studied. Examination of adjacent hematoxylin-and-eosin-stained sections indicated that they consisted of yellow-green granules, bodies, and aggregates in ballooned glial cells. On the other hand, no clusters of acid-fast lipochrome bodies were observed at the compacta region of three control patients. Our results suggest that the immunological and genetic relationship between the acid-fast lipochrome bodies and filterable nocardiae should be investigated.