Early impairment in dopaminergic neurotransmission in brains of SIV-infected rhesus monkeys due to microglia activation.

Movement disorders are a common neurological complication of immunodeficiency virus infection and are thought to result from dopaminergic dysfunction in the basal ganglia. We measured levels of dopamine, and its metabolites homovanillic acid and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid, in the putamen of healthy and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)-infected rhesus monkeys from infection until the development of AIDS. Changes in expression levels of cAMP response element binding protein (CREB), a transcription factor involved in the signalling pathway of dopamine, were also examined.