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Updated: Aug 21, 2026

Three-dimensional Imaging of Nociceptive Intraepidermal Nerve Fibers in Human Skin Biopsies
Published on: April 29, 2013
Damage to jejunal intrinsic autonomic nerves in HIV infection
G E Griffin1, A Miller, P Batman
1Department of Communicable Diseases, St George's Hospital Medical School, London, UK.
Abstract:
Jejunal biopsies from 11 HIV-infected male homosexuals, without secondary enteropathogen infection, were examined at ultrastructural and light microscope level. Subjects were clinically categorized into four groups: asymptomatic (3), AIDS-related complex (4), persistent generalized lymphadenopathy (1), and AIDS (3). All 11 biopsies, including the three from asymptomatic HIV-infected individuals, showed extensive damage to autonomic nerve fibres in the lamina propria. These findings show that HIV infection damages the enteric autonomic nerves. Since asymptomatic HIV-infected individuals had similar damage, this appears to be an early event in the course of HIV infection.
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