Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Dr Daniel ErskineORCiD, Professor Alan ThomasORCiD, Professor Johannes Attems, Professor John-Paul TaylorORCiD, Professor Ian McKeith, Dr Christopher Morris, Dr Ahmad Khundakar
Full text for this publication is not currently held within this repository. Alternative links are provided below where available.
Background Dementia with Lewy bodies patients experience visual attentional deficits, leading to a potential vulnerability to visual hallucinations. The pulvinar has a putative role in visual attention and is thought to modulate visual system functioning based on attentional demands. The pulvinar is thought to play an important role in hallucinations but has not been neuropathologically examined in dementia with Lewy bodies. Objective The present study investigated whether neuropathological or morphometric changes occur in the pulvinar nucleus in dementia with Lewy bodies cases that may contribute to visual hallucinations. Methods Post-mortem pulvinar tissue was acquired from eight dementia with Lewy bodies, eight Alzheimer’s disease and eight control cases and analyzed using stereological and quantitative neuropathological techniques. Results Lewy body pathology was found in all pulvinar sub-regions in dementia with Lewy bodies cases. However, neuronal loss was specifically found in the lateral pulvinar of dementia with Lewy bodies cases compared to control cases. Significant reductions in lateral pulvinar neuron number were also found in Alzheimer’s disease cases compared to controls, but these changes were not as marked as those observed in dementia with Lewy bodies cases. Conclusions The lateral pulvinar is thought to modulate visual cortical activity based on attentional demands, thus contributing to visual attentional functioning. As alterations to visual attentional function have been postulated to contribute a vulnerability to hallucination, the present results suggest neuropathological changes in visual components of the pulvinar that may contribute to attentional deficits and promote the manifestation of visual hallucinations in dementia with Lewy bodies.
Author(s): Erskine D, Thomas AJ, Attems J, Taylor JP, McKeith IG, Morris CM, Khundakar AA
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Movement Disorders
Year: 2017
Volume: 32
Issue: 3
Pages: 414-422
Print publication date: 01/03/2017
Online publication date: 06/01/2017
Acceptance date: 31/10/2016
ISSN (print): 0885-3185
ISSN (electronic): 1531-8257
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mds.26887
DOI: 10.1002/mds.26887
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
