AIDS antiretroviral drugs do not prevent dégéneresence brain tissue

The antiretroviral drugs do not prevent the AIDS virus (HIV) cause degeneration of certain areas of the brain, U.S. researchers reveal in accelerated edition of the magazine "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" (PNAS) online.

Paul Thompson and a team of researchers from the University of California and the University of Pittsburgh analyzed on imaging scans by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in three dimensions from 26 AIDS patients and 14 HIV-negative people.

All HIV-positive participants had lost at least half of their T cells None was a victim of AIDS-related dementia and 13 were receiving antiretrovirals.

AIDS significantly affects brain regions dedicated to locomotion, language and judgment, but does not seem to address other areas, the authors report.

Some degeneration of the tissues were directly correlated with physical and mental symptoms of patients, including poor motor coordination and slower reflexes, say the scientists.

"This is the first time we can understand why the locomotor abilities are affected by AIDS, because the virus attacks the motor centers of the brain," said Paul Thompson.

The team also put in relation thinning dedicated to language and reflection with the degeneration of CD4 + T cells of the immune system areas. "The loss of tissue following the loss of T cells, which means that people with impaired immune function also have significant brain degeneration," said Paul Thompson.

This could explain why AIDS is often associated with loss of vocabulary, problems with judgment and difficult to plan. As the disease progresses, these symptoms may worsen memory loss and dementia, close to the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.

These phenomena of degeneration show no significant difference whether or not patients take antiretroviral drugs, the authors report. Yet these drugs assist the immune system, but "a protective blood barrier prevents drugs from entering the brain and into the tank or HIV can multiply," said Paul Thompson.

The MRI process three-dimensional high-resolution color used in this study was developed at the University of California. This technology could be useful to evaluate the effect of drugs on the brain, according to the researcher.