This web site is updated weekly so that we may bring you the latest health news in a timely fashion. You may want to bookmark this site for future reference. . Dr. Avindra Nath, a neurologist with the University of Kentucky in Lexington, said Friday he has not only discovered the specific cellular activity that leads to dementia in patients with HIV, but has developed a way to prevent the activity in the laboratory using antioxidants. He presented his preliminary findings at American Academy of Neurology's 53rd Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.
Mitochondria are small, threadlike particles in the cytoplasm, the fluid inside the cell walls.
Mitochondria are responsible for cellular energy and cell breathing, literally controlling cell life. They found that in HIV patients, mitochondrial activity was incrementally depressed as HIV levels increased in the CSF of patients and dementia progressed. Next we tested several antioxidant preparations known to protect the mitochondria in the cell cultures to see what effect if any they might have. We found six out of seven of these antioxidants reduced the toxicity level of the CSF and protected the mitochondria in these cell cultures. According to the researcher, if the agents have the same protective effect if given to HIV patients, it might help prevent or at least delay the progressive dementia of the virus once it crosses the blood-brain barrier.