title: Accumulation of acid-fast lipochrome bodies in glial cells of the midbrain nigral lesion in Parkinson's disease.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Gifu University School of Medicine, Tsukasa-machi 40, Gifu City, Gifu 500, Japan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kohbata
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tamura
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hayashi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000382:microbiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000473:pathology; D009615:Nocardia / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology*