Nagra R M, Masliah E, Burrola P G, Wiley C A
Brain Research Institute, School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles.
J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. 1994 Nov;53(6):572-81. doi: 10.1097/00005072-199411000-00004.
Retroviral infection of the central nervous system (CNS) causes chronic functional and morphological damage in a wide variety of mammals. Neuropathological studies have focused on subcortical pathology, however, the neocortex is also affected. Because studies of human CNS pathology have been limited to the use of material from terminal stages of disease, we used two neuropathogenic murine leukemia virus (MuLV) models to study the development of neocortical damage. MuLV infection caused spongiform change in the spinal cord, brainstem and cerebellum but not in the cerebrum. However, over the course of disease, we observed a reduction of neocortical thickness, accompanied by diminished neuronal and dendritic spine density. Electron microscopic studies showed minimal to no ultrastructural alterations of dendritic spines. Since there was no evidence of extensive direct viral infection of the neocortical neurons or glia at the ultrastructural level, we hypothesize that neocortical damage may be an indirect effect of subcortical retroviral infection.
逆转录病毒感染中枢神经系统（CNS）会在多种哺乳动物中导致慢性功能和形态损伤。神经病理学研究主要集中在皮质下病变，然而，新皮质也会受到影响。由于人类中枢神经系统病理学研究仅限于使用疾病终末期的材料，我们使用两种神经致病性小鼠白血病病毒（MuLV）模型来研究新皮质损伤的发展。MuLV感染导致脊髓、脑干和小脑出现海绵状变化，但大脑未出现。然而，在疾病过程中，我们观察到新皮质厚度减少，同时神经元和树突棘密度降低。电子显微镜研究显示树突棘的超微结构改变极少或没有。由于在超微结构水平上没有证据表明新皮质神经元或神经胶质存在广泛的直接病毒感染，我们推测新皮质损伤可能是皮质下逆转录病毒感染的间接效应。
