The primary phase of infection by pathogenic simian-human immunodeficiency virus results in disruption of the blood-brain barrier.

Using the simian-human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV), we have investigated whether the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is compromised during the early stages of infection. Five macaques were inoculated with pathogenic SHIV(50OLNV) for 2 weeks at which time macaques were anesthetized, perfused with saline, and sacrificed. The brains were removed and examined for the disruption of the blood-brain barrier by immunohistochemical staining for the plasma protein fibrinogen in the neural parenchyma. Our results indicate a disruption of the BBB in the five of five macaques inoculated with SHIV(50OLNV) for 2 weeks. Zonula occludens 1 (ZO-1), which is a marker for the tight junctions formed by brain vascular endothelial cells, was largely absent in areas that showed fibrinogen deposition in all five macaques. To determine if the BBB integrity correlated with the initial stages of infection, the brains from two macaques were analyzed that had progressed to end-stage disease following inoculation with pathogenic SHIV(50OLNV) but developed no neuropathology and from two macaques that were inoculated with a gene-deleted, nonpathogenic virus (novpuSHIV(KU-1bMC33)) for over 1 year. Our results indicate that unlike the macaques sacrificed during the acute phase of infection, immunohistochemical staining for fibrinogen in the neural parenchyma was negative and ZO-1 staining was readily detected in the endothelial cells of the blood vessels. The results of this study indicate that the transient loss of BBB integrity is a function of the high level of virus replication that occurs during the acute phase of infection and provides important information on the early stages of lentivirus neuroinvasion.