Fig.3.

The α-synuclein pathology of Parkinson’s disease. Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites in the substantia nigra and several other brain regions define Parkinson’s disease at a neuropathological level. They are shown here at light (a-c) and electron microscopic (d-g) levels, labelled by α-synuclein antibodies. (a), Two pigmented nerve cells, each containing an α-synuclein-positive Lewy body (red arrows). Lewy neurites (black arrows) are also immunopositive. Scale bar, 20μm. (b), Pigmented nerve cell with two α-synuclein-positive Lewy bodies. Scale bar, 8μm. (c) α-Synuclein-positive extracellular Lewy body. Scale bar, 4μm. (d-g), Isolated filaments from the substantia nigra of patients with Parkinson’s disease are decorated with an antibody directed against the carboxy-terminal (d and e) or the amino-terminal (f,g) region of α-synuclein. The gold particles conjugated to the second antibody appear as black dots. Note the uniform decoration (d,e), and the labelling of only one filament end (f,g). Scale bar, 100 nm. From Goedert [205].