New Way to Diagnose and Test Treatment for Lewy Body Dementia

Greater levels of specific fats and proteins that are found in Lewy body dementia (one of the most common forms of dementia) may help with its diagnosis and testing the treatment efficacy as per a study at the Newcastle University, published in the journal Acta Neuropathologica. The study has moved a step closer to identifying the cause of Lewy body dementia, which affects more than 100,000 UK people.

Lewy body dementia is characterized by memory decline, difficulty in concentration, fluctuating levels of alertness, movement issues, and visual hallucinations.

“The findings from this study are significant not only as they bring us closer to finding out why nerve cells die in Lewy body dementia, but also importantly, pave the way towards sensitive and accurate testing for the disease,” says Dr. Kurzawa-Akanbi of the Newcastle University Biosciences Institute.

Lewy Body Dementia and Fats

Changes in a gene called glucocerebrosidase (GBA – breaks down certain types of fats in the brain) is often encountered in people with dementia with Lewy bodies. However, the mechanism remains unclear.

It was found that specific fats called ceramides are increased in brain tissue samples from people who had Lewy body dementia. Moreover, the increased amounts of ceramides were found in everyone with Lewy body dementia rat, and not only in those people who had changes in GBA.

The ceramide fats were also highly increased in small particles called extracellular vesicles (EVs). This shows that these changes in ceramides might be a unique feature of all types of Lewy body disease, which also includes conditions such as Parkinson’s.

“This is a very exciting discovery that will give hope to the many thousands of families affected by Lewy body dementia (LBD)”, says Jacqueline Cannon, Chief Executive of The Lewy Body Society.

Source-Medindia