Eva-Maria Ratai1, Jeffrey Bombardier1, Chan-Gyu Joo1, Julian He1, Lakshman Annamalai2, Susan V. Westmoreland2, Tricia H. Burdo3, Jennifer H. Campbell3, Caroline Soulas3, Kenneth Williams3, R. Gilberto Gonzalez1
1Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital - A.A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, USA; 2New England Regional Primate Research Center, Southborough, MA, USA; 3Biology Department, Boston College, Boston, MA, USA
Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy has emerged as one of the most informative neuroimaging methods for the study of neuroAIDS as it provides surrogate markers to assess disease progression and monitor therapeutic treatment. Changes in N-Acetylaspartate (NAA) and NAA/creatine (NAA/Cr) are established markers of neuronal injury/loss. However, the biochemical basis of creatine alterations is less well understood. Utilizing the accelerated macaque model of neuroAIDS, we find increases in Cr during disease progression and hypothesize that these changes are related to increased energy demand due to astrocytosis and gliosis as a consequence of SIV infected monocytes entering the brain.