J. Torres-munoz et al., Detection of HIV-1 gene sequences in hippocampal neurons isolated from postmortem AIDS brains by laser capture microdissection, J NE EXP NE, 60(9), 2001, pp. 885-892
Citations number
62
Categorie Soggetti
Neurosciences & Behavoir
Journal title
JOURNAL OF NEUROPATHOLOGY AND EXPERIMENTAL NEUROLOGY
We employed laser capture microdissection to remove individual pyramidal ne
urons from the CA1, CA3, and CA4 regions of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedd
ed hippocampus from 8 AIDS brains and 2 HIV-1-seronegative normal brains. W
e amplified HIV-1 gag and nef gene sequences using separate, double round P
CR reactions for each of the primer sets. In all 3 bippocampal regions, amp
lification efficiency was best with sequence length between 284 and 324 bp;
HIV-1 nef gene sequences were more common than HIV-1 gag sequences; and ra
nk order for percent positive amplification was CA3>CA4 >CA1 samples. These
results are the first to detect HIV-1 gene sequences in microdissected hum
an tissue. They indicate that brain neurons in vivo contain HIV-1 DNA seque
nces consistent with latent infection by this virus, and suggest that neuro
ns display a selective vulnerability for HIV infection. Neuronal HIV infect
ion could contribute to neuronal injury and death or act as a potential vir
al reservoir if reactivated.