[The CNS in AIDS and in asymptomatic HIV positive patients]

Neuropathological investigations were carried out on 166 autopsies of HIV-seropositive patients, with and without AIDS. Opportunistic infections and lymphomas were present in about 50% of cases; 65 patients were bearers of HIV-encephalopathy. HIV core protein p24 was detected in few mono- and multinucleated macrophages (HIV-cells), only in cases with HIV-encephalopathy. In the CNS of HIV-positive, asymptomatic patients no histological or immunohistochemical abnormalities were seen. These findings let suppose that AIDS-Dementia is a result of a late infiltration of HIV-infected macrophages from the bloodstream into the brain and not due to an impairment of neuronal or glial cells infected by HIV in the early stages of the disease.