Abstract

HENAO, Jorge Alejandro et al. The human inmunodeficiency virus type 1 and the developing central nervous system. Biomédica [online]. 2005, vol.25, n.1, pp.136-147. ISSN 0120-4157.

Nowadays, over 42 million people are infected with the human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 (HIV-1), 3.2 million of them are children infected through vertical transmission in 90% of the cases. It is considered that in Colombia more than 200000 persons have been infected since the beginning of the pandemic, and the studies show a tendency toward a steady increase in the seroprevalence in pregnant women. Although HIV-1 is basically lymphotropic, its capacity to invade the Central Nervous System (CNS) is well known, generating multiple neurological alterations, especially prominent in children, with encephalopathy being the most prevalent. Classically, two types of neurological disorders are recognized in this population: early and late encephalopathies, each of them with different clinical and immunological characteristics. HIV-1 infection of the CNS is limited to macrophages, microglia and astrocytes in a restricted manner. Neurons, which are mainly affected in patients with the acquired immunodeficiency virus (AIDS), are rarely infected, suggesting that host and viral soluble factors, are responsible for the neuronal damage. The conclusion reached in this review is that the CNS, in its early stages of development, is especially susceptible to HIV-1 infection. The epidemiological trends allow to predict that these types of clinical alterations will increase in frequency; hence it is essential to understand HIV-1´s neuropathogenesis.

Keywords : encephalitis; HIV-1; neuropathogenesis; neurogenesis; cytokines; embriology.

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