Yutong Liu1, Aditya N. Bade2, Larisa Y. Poluektova2, Santhi Gorantla2, Howard E. Gendelman2, Michael D. Boska1
1Department of Radiology, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States; 2Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States
MEMRI was performed on a mouse model of HIV-1 encephalitis generated by intracranial injection of HIV-1 infected monocyte-derived macrophages into caudate and putamen. Histological analysis showed HIV-1 infected human monocytes and gliosis about the injection sites. MEMRI showed signal enhancement in the same regions. Based on a study of neuronal and glial Mn uptake during neuroinflammation, we hypothesize that the signal enhancement results from the increased neuronal activity as a result of gliosis stimulating Mn uptake.