Visual hallucinations are a common, distressing, and disabling symptom of Lewy body and other diseases. Current models suggest that interactions in internal cognitive processes generate hallucinations. However, these neglect external factors. Pareidolic illusions are an experimental analogue of hallucinations. They are easily induced in Lewy body disease, have similar content to spontaneous hal...

Parkinson’s disease with dementia (PDD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) are common clinical dementias characterized neuropathologically by the presence of cortical Lewy body pathology and with distinct clinical and neurobiological similarities. Importantly, genetic factors seem to play a key role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease. In the current article, we examine the evidence for...

Lewy body has been linked to Parkinson's disease for almost a century, but its significance in neurodegenerative diseases is not known. Whether it is toxic, protective, or just a bystander has been a subject of debate. Recent advances in molecular and genetic works suggest Lewy bodies are not essential for the diagnosis and pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. Furthermore, the discovery of gene...

Lewy body diseases – encompassing Parkinson’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, and Parkinson’s disease with late dementia – may reflect a vicious cycle of neuroinflammation in which aggregated alphasynuclein promotes microglial activation, and the peroxynitrite and cytokines produced by activated microglia in turn promote intraneuronal alpha-synuclein aggregation and neuronal death. If this ...