Surtees R, Hyland K, Smith I
Department of Child Health, Institute of Child Health, London, UK.
Lancet. 1990 Mar 17;335(8690):619-21. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(90)90409-x.
To assess methyl-group metabolism in the central nervous system in infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), levels of 5-methyltetrahydrofolate, methionine, and S-adenosylmethionine were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from six children with congenital HIV infection and neurological complications. Total neopterins were also measured, as a marker of macrophage activation. In all six children concentrations of one or more methyl-group carriers were lower than those in a reference population of children, and all of the five in whom CSF neopterins were measured had higher than normal levels. Defective methylation may play a part in the neurological damage caused by HIV infection.
