Calmodulin is involved in calcium-regulation. The role of calmodulin , and the vulnerability of dopamine cells lacking-calmodulin to die prematurely is, at this time, unknown. In PD, but not the PD-like diseases, the loss of cells in the brainstem is accompanied by Lewy bodies. Lewy bodies are large relative to the cell. PD affects one million Americans .
Lewy bodies occur in dopamine and non-dopamine cells outside the brainstem .
PD-dementia is characterized by a loss of memory and a marked decline in intellectual and cognitive abilities. At autopsy the cortical and brainstem cells of PD-dementia patients contain Lewy bodies. Diffuse Lewy Body Disease is PD beginning with memory loss and a decline in intellectual and cognitive abilities rather than PD beginning with rigidity, tremor, and slowness of movement. Lewy bodies are also present in cells in the cortex of AD patients. Diffuse Lewy Body Disease.