Oberfield S E, Cowan L, Levine L S, George A, David R, Litt A, Rojas V, Kairam R
Department of Pediatrics, New York University Medical Center, New York 10016.
J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr (1988). 1994 Jan;7(1):57-62.
The hippocampus is a major center for the regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. There is experimental evidence that chronic exposure to high levels of glucocorticoids may be toxic to the hippocampus. We observed elevated mean basal and 60-min cortisol (F) levels in response to adrenocorticotropin stimulation (0.25 mg cortrosyn, i.v. bolus infusion) in 15 children with HIV infection. Furthermore, in eight of the children for whom data was available, in addition to high peripheral cortisol levels, neurologic dysfunction and hippocampal atrophy were noted on CT scan. These preliminary data suggest that in HIV-infected children an altered cortisol secretion may be associated with specific central nervous system damage.
海马体是调节下丘脑 - 垂体 - 肾上腺轴的主要中心。有实验证据表明，长期暴露于高水平的糖皮质激素可能对海马体有毒性。我们观察到，15名感染HIV的儿童在接受促肾上腺皮质激素刺激（静脉推注0.25mg考的松）后，基础皮质醇和60分钟皮质醇（F）水平均值升高。此外，在有数据可用的8名儿童中，除了外周皮质醇水平升高外，CT扫描还发现了神经功能障碍和海马体萎缩。这些初步数据表明，在感染HIV的儿童中，皮质醇分泌改变可能与特定的中枢神经系统损伤有关。
