[Experimental study of mechanisms of neuronal death in the course oh HIV infection]

The HIV1 virus and its envelope glycoprotein gp120 are toxic for human neurones in vitro. This neurotoxicity is, at least partially, of an apoptotic nature, resulting from the interaction of gp120 with the neuronal membrane which leads to perturbations of intracellular signaling systems. These latter bring about on the one hand a raising of [Ca2+]i partly due to the potentiation of the NMDA receptor response to endogenous glutamate and on the other hand the activation of certain MAP kinases (ERK and JNK) which lead to the initiation of the cell death program.