       Document 0267
 DOCN  M9620267
 TI    Neuronal apoptosis in HIV infection in adults.
 DT    9602
 AU    Adle-Biassette H; Levy Y; Colombel M; Poron F; Natchev S; Keohane C;
       Gray F; Department of Pathology (Neuropathology), Hopital H. Mondor,;
       Universite Paris-Val de Marne, Creteil, France.
 SO    Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol. 1995 Jun;21(3):218-27. Unique Identifier :
       AIDSLINE MED/96059603
 AB    Productive infection of the central nervous system by HIV predominantly
       involves the white matter and basal ganglia. Involvement of the cerebral
       cortex with neuronal loss is also described in AIDS patients but not in
       asymptomatic HIV-positive patients. The mechanism of neuronal damage is
       unknown. To enquire whether neuronal loss in AIDS may be due to an
       apoptotic process, we examined the cerebral cortex from 12 patients who
       died from AIDS using two different methods: in situ end labelling and
       gel electrophoresis of DNA to demonstrate DNA fragmentation. None of the
       patients had cerebral opportunistic infection or tumour. Four patients
       had no significant neuropathological changes, eight patients had
       variable cerebral atrophy and four of them also had productive HIV
       infection of the brain. These patients were compared with four
       HIV-positive asymptomatic patients, five seronegative asymptomatic
       controls, and two seronegative patients with Alzheimer's disease. We
       demonstrated neuronal apoptosis in the cortex in all AIDS patients, as
       well as in the Alzheimer's patients. Apoptosis was not observed in the
       asymptomatic cases whether seropositive or seronegative. Neuronal
       apoptosis was more severe in atrophic brains, and did not directly
       correlate with productive HIV infection, suggesting an indirect
       mechanism of neuronal damage is most likely.
 DE    Adult  Alzheimer's Disease/PATHOLOGY  *Apoptosis  Atrophy  Cerebral
       Cortex/*PATHOLOGY  Electrophoresis  Encephalitis/*PATHOLOGY  Female
       Human  *HIV  Male  Middle Age  Neurons/*PATHOLOGY  Support, Non-U.S.
       Gov't  JOURNAL ARTICLE

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).

