Quinolinic acid/tryptophan ratios predict neurological disease in SIV-infected macaques and remain elevated in the brain under cART.

ABSTRACT: Activation of the kynurenine pathway (KP) of tryptophan catabolism likely contributes to HIV-associated neurological disorders. However, KP activation in brain tissue during HIV infection has been understudied, and the effect of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) on KP induction in the brain is unknown. To examine these questions, tryptophan, kynurenine, 3-hydroxykynurenine, quinolinic acid, and serotonin levels were measured longitudinally during SIV infection in the striatum and CSF from untreated and cART-treated pigtailed macaques. Messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of KP enzymes also were measured in the striatum. In untreated macaques, elevations in KP metabolites coincided with transcriptional induction of upstream enzymes in the KP. Striatal KP induction was also temporally associa

SUBMITTER: Drewes JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4512924 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature