Oxidative stress and neuroAIDS: triggers, modulators and novel antioxidants

Neurological disorders represent one of the most common disturbances accomp anying HIV infection. In the past few years, highly antiretroviral active t herapy has significantly reduced the incidence of HIV-related diseases. How ever, neurological dysfunction in AIDS patients still remains an unresolved problem. Oxidative stress, which occurs in brain tissues of patients under going HIV infection and is implicated in cell death of both astroglia and n eurones, has recently been suggested to play a role in the pathogenesis of neuroAIDS. Thus, a better understanding of the processes that trigger and m odulate free radical formation in brain tissues of AIDS patients might help in a successful therapeutic approach to the neuropathogenesis of HIV infec tion.