Lewy body dementia

[6] The exact cause is unknown, but involves widespread deposits of abnormal clumps of protein that form in neurons of the diseased brain.

[17] Lewy bodies and neurites have been found to develop from the aggregation of misfolded alpha-synuclein, a protein thought to assist in neurotransmitter release and vesicle turnover; whether these misfolded proteins are responsible for the neurodegenerative effects remains unclear, and no definitive link between Lewy bodies and neurodegenerative effects has been found.

Before his suicide, he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease,[23] and according to his widow, Susan Schneider Williams, he experienced depression, anxiety, and increasing paranoia.

[28] The British author and poet Mervyn Peake died in 1968 and was diagnosed posthumously as a probable case of DLB in a 2003 paper published in JAMA Neurology.

[29] Other entertainers and artists who have or died from LBD include Estelle Getty, the actress known for her role as Sophia on the television series The Golden Girls,[30] Nicholas King, a US actor and horticulturist,[31] actress Dina Merrill,[32] Donald Featherstone, who created the plastic pink flamingo,[33] American radio and television host Casey Kasem,[34] Canadian singer Pierre Lalonde,[35][36] graphic artist/film set designer Ron Cobb,[37] American actor Frank Bonner,[38] and Canadian musician and actor André Gagnon.

[39] Individuals from industry or government who have or died from LBD include Seymour Berry, US Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing,[40] Los Angeles Times publisher Otis Chandler,[41] Philip J.

Rock, a US Democratic politician of the Illinois Senate,[42] U.S. media mogul and philanthropist Ted Turner,[43] and Indian-born British billionaire S. P.

In the sports realm, Jerry Sloan, American professional basketball player and coach, died from LBD.

[47] Major League Baseball players Tom Seaver,[48] Andy Carey,[49] and Bill Buckner died of LBD.

[50] Stan Mikita, Canadian ice hockey player, was diagnosed with possible LBD,[51] but a post-mortem brain autopsy found that he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

[53][54][55] Sleepwalk with Me is a book, one-man comedy, and film about a young man with relationship problems and RBD, a precursor to synucleinopathy, including LBD.