5 ways to differentiate Lewy body and Pick body in a brain biopsy or during autopsy Degenerative brain diseases are seldom biopsied. They are diagnosed predominantly during autopsies. Lewy body and Pick body are particularly difficult to distinguish. Lewy bodies: They are seen in Parkinson’s disease as well as dementia with lewy bodies. Cortical lewy bodies are characteristic of dementia with lewy bodies whereas lewy bodies in the basal ganglia are seen in Parkinson’s disease. Pick bodies: They are seen fronto-temporal dementia. As the name suggests, they can be seen in frontal and temporal areas. Here are 5 ways to differentiate lewy body and pick body based on light microscopy, immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy. 1. STAINING Pick bodies are slightly more basophilic compared to Lewy body. PICK BODY – WITH SLIGHTLY BASOPHILIC APPEARANCE LEWY BODY WITH EOSINOPHILIC APPEARANCE 2. PRESENCE OR ABSENCE OF A CENTRAL DOT Lewy body has an eosinophilic central dot, as in the above picture which pick body lacks. 3. PRESENCE OR ABSENCE OF A PERIPHERAL HALO Lewy body has a peripheral halo wheras Pick body doesn’t PERIPHERAL HALO IN LEWY BODY 4. IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL STAINS Lewy body stains positive with anti-alpha synuclein antibodies. Pick body stains positive with anti-tau antibodies. 5. ELECTRON MICROSCOPY On electron microscopy Lewy body is composed of fuzzy deposits on filaments that radiated from a central core. Pick body is composed of random filaments of smooth contour. Electron microscopy findings of Lewy body Electron microscopic findings of Pick body That’s all the ways to differentiate PICK BODY AND LEWY BODY Liked the page? Why not leave a tip for it’s creators For YouTube video click If you are interested in illustrations click below Share this:FacebookTelegramWhatsAppMoreLinkedInTwitterLike this:Like Loading...