Napapon Sailasuta1, Kimbery Shriner2,
1Clinical MR Spectroscopy, Huntington
Medical Research Institutes, Pasadena, CA, United States; 2The
Phil Simon Clinic, Huntington Memorial Hospital, Pasadena, CA, United States;
3Rudi Schulte Research Institute, Santa Barbara, CA, United
States; 4University of Southern California, Keck School of
Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, United States; 5Rudi Schulte Research
Institute, Santa Barbara , CA, United States
Despite
successful treatment of HIV and AIDS, neuroimaging and neurospectroscopy
abnormalities persist suggesting residual viral effects or unwanted
neurological side effects of effective therapies. Elucidation of the recently described
reduction in frontal lobe glutamate concentration in white matter of
HIV-affected individuals requires independent 13C MRS measurement of
glutamate turnover neurotransmitter rates in neurons and glia. This study develops the necessary frontal
lobe assay of neuronal and axonal glutamate turnover by infusion of 2-13C
glucose followed by low-power nOe 13C MRS in HIV and normal control
subjects. Preliminary results indicate
reduced 13C glutamate turnover in successfully treated HIV.