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Abstract #4277

Diffusion Tensor Imaging Detection of Early White Matter Changes in an Accelerated SIV Primate Model of NeuroAIDS

Eva-Maria Ratai1,2, Vadim Villarroel3, Julian He1,2, Reza Hakimelahi1,2, Robert Fell1, Chan-Gyu Joo1,2, Jeffrey Bombardier1, Susan Westmoreland, 2,4, Kenneth Williams5, Ramon Gilberto Gonzalez1,2

1Department of Radiology, A. A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, United States; 2Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States; 3Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States; 4Division of Comparative Pathology, New England Primate Research Center, Southborough, MA, United States; 5Biology Department, Boston College, Boston, MA, United States


A significant number of HIV-infected patients develop neurological symptoms which are thought to be a result of injury to neurons in the CNS. Our objective was to use DTI to detect abnormalities in white matter in a SIV-infected, CD8-depleted macaque model of neuroAIDS. MRS and DTI were conducted before and at 2 and 4 weeks post infection. White matter in the corpus callosum showed a trend towards decreased FA at 2 wpi. Correlation analyses demonstrated a significant association between white matter damage in the splenium and increases in choline. FA showed a negative correlation with viral load in the CSF.