Abstract #1069

7 Tesla MR Spectroscopy Reveals That CD8 T Lymphocyte Depletion Alone Has No Effect on Brain Metabolite Concentrations Confirming the Accelerated Rhesus Macaque Model of NeuroAIDS

Eva-Maria Ratai^1,2, Sarah Pilkenton^1,2, Jeffrey Bombardier¹, Chan-Gyu Joo^1,2, Katherine W. Turk¹, Margaret R. Lentz^1,2, Julian He^1,2, Lakshman Annamalai^2,3, Shawn O' Neil^2,3, Susan V. Westmoreland^2,3, Tricia H. Burdo⁴, Jennifer H. Campbell⁴, Caroline Soulas⁴, Patrick Autissier⁴, Woong-Ki Kim⁵, Kenneth Williams⁴, R. Gilberto Gonzalez^1,2

¹Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital - A.A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, USA; ²Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; ³New England Regional Primate Research Center, Southborough, MA, USA; ⁴Biology Department, Boston College, Boston, MA, USA; ⁵Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA, USA

SIV infection followed by CD8 lymphocyte depletion produces rapidly progressing neuro-AIDS that is characterized by consistently declining levels of N-acetyl-aspartate/creatine (NAA/Cr). This model makes possible the definitive testing of neuroprotective drugs within 3 months in as few as 4 animals. However, it remains unknown whether CD8+ depletion alone has an effect on cerebral metabolism. To answer this question, four rhesus macaques were examined by 7T 1H MR spectroscopy before and biweekly after CD8 depletion for 8 weeks. Data were compared to SIV infected CD8 depleted animals and revealed that CD8 depletion alone has no effect on brain metabolite concentrations.