ALCOHOL AND HIV INFECTION: ADDITIVE NEUROPHYSCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Alcohol and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection has been shown to produce similar neuropathological profiles, including loss of neurons in the frontal cortex. 50-75% of HIV-infected adults are diagnosed with neurological problems, and 20% develop Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) dementia. Alcohol abuse and HIV infection also have additive effects on abnormal brain electrophysiological measurements. However, the relationship between the effects of alcohol and AIDS-related neuronal and cognitive dysfunction requires further examination. The studies proposed will test the overall hypothesis that alcohol unmasks neuropsychological deficits in rhesus monkeys infected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV). This component will systematically explore the significant interaction that occurred between ethanol and SIV during behavioral testing in the previous funding period and begin to examine the potential role of GABAA and NMDA receptors in that interaction. These experiments will investigate whether chronic alcohol administration will 1) potentiate neuropsychological deficits produced by SIV in monkeys responding under a complex neuropsychological procedure such as repeated acquisition, 2) produce tolerance to the rate-decreasing and error-increasing effects of alcohol and cross tolerance to behavioral effects of three different, site-specific, positive GABAA modulators in both sham- and SIV-inoculated monkeys, 3) produce cross tolerance to behavioral effects of NMDA receptor antagonists in both sham- or SIV-inoculated monkeys, and 4) reduce effectiveness of antiviral therapy in SIV-infected monkeys. Two cohorts of 8 animals were originally enrolled on this study. Of the first cohort, all 4 SIV-innoculated animals succumbed to infection and only the 4 saline-innoculated subjects remain: 2 alcohol treated and 2 sucrose treated. Regarding the second cohort, 7 animals are undergoing pre-innoculation neuropsychological testing with drug challenge with concomitant sucrose (3) or alcohol (4) administration over 4 consecutive days each week. One subject in the second cohort succumbed to unknown causes unrelated to the study.