Lewy bodies contain beta-amyloid precursor proteins of Alzheimer's disease

To assess the contribution of Alzheimer's disease amyloid proteins to cortical and substantia nigra Lewy bodies (LBs), regions of postmortem brain rich in intraneuronal LBs were examined immunohistochemically. Antibodies to epitopes in domains outside the amyloidogenic beta-amyloid peptide (BAP) in BAP precursor proteins (BAPPs) as well as to the BAP itself were used as probes. These studies showed that only BAPP epitopes outside the BAP were present in substantia nigral and cortical LBs. Thus, non-amyloidogenic domains of BAPPs may be associated with intraneuronal inclusions comprised of neurofilament proteins.