title: Of mice and monkeys: can animal models be utilized to study neurological consequences of pediatric HIV-1 infection?
abstract: Pediatric human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) infection remains a global health crisis. Children are much more susceptible to HIV-1 neurological impairments than adults, which can be exacerbated by coinfections. Neurological characteristics of pediatric HIV-1 infection suggest dysfunction in the frontal cortex as well as the hippocampus; limited MRI data indicate global cerebral atrophy, and pathological data suggest accelerated neuronal apoptosis in the cortex. An obstacle to pediatric HIV-1 research is a human representative model system. Host-species specificity of HIV-1 limits the ability to model neurological consequences of pediatric HIV-1 infection in animals. Several models have been proposed including neonatal intracranial injections of HIV-1 viral proteins in rats and perinatal simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection of infant macaques. Nonhuman primate models recapitulate the complexity of pediatric HIV-1 neuropathogenesis while rodent models are able to elucidate the role specific viral proteins exert on neurodevelopment. Nonhuman primate models show similar behavioral and neuropathological characteristics to pediatric HIV-1 infection and offer a stage to investigate early viral mechanisms, latency reservoirs, and therapeutic interventions. Here we review the relative strengths and limitations of pediatric HIV-1 model systems.
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Carryl
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Swang
authors.forename: Jerome
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lawrence
authors.forename: Kimberly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Curtis
authors.forename: Herman
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kamboj
authors.affiliation: §California National Primate Research Center, University of California at Davis, Davis, California 95616, United States.
authors.forename: Koen K A
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Van Rompay
authors.affiliation: ∥Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Center for AIDS Research School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States.
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: De Paris
authors.forename: Mark W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Burke
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015497:HIV-1; D006801:Humans; D016097:Simian Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*
keywords: Pediatric; animal models; hippocampus; human immunodeficiency virus-1; myelin; neurological impairments; simian immunodeficiency virus; stereology