Tryptophan concentrations increase in cerebrospinal fluid and blood after zidovudine treatment in patients with HIV type 1 infection

• Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood concentrations of indoleamines and catecholamines were analyzed in 14 HIV-1-seropositive individuals before antiviral treatment with zidovudine, after 3-14 months of treatment, and, in 8 of the patients, also after 14-30 months. The median pretreatment concentrations of tryptophan in CSF and blood were low (224 ng/ml and 6.0 micrograms/ml, respectively), but an increase in these values by an average of 40% in CSF and 23% in blood was seen after 3-14 months of zidovudine treatment (p < 0.01) and remained undiminished after 14-30 months of treatment. No significant change was observed in the 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT, serotonin) level in blood or in the CSF concentrations of the 5-HT metabolite 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) and the dopamine metabolite homovanillic acid (HVA). The CSF concentrations of the noradrenalin metabolite 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG) had decreased by 12% on average (p < 0.01) by the time of the second follow-up, that is, after 14-30 months of zidovudine treatment. A decrease in neopterin during antiretroviral treatment correlated with an increase in tryptophan (p < 0.01). The data suggest that an association between decreased immune stimulation and reduced tryptophan degradation in patients treated with zidovudine.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Medicinska och farmaceutiska grundvetenskaper -- Mikrobiologi inom det medicinska området (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Basic Medicine -- Microbiology in the medical area (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Adult

Aged

Biopterin/analogs & derivatives/blood/cerebrospinal fluid

CD4 Lymphocyte Count

Female

HIV Infections/drug therapy/immunology/*metabolism

*HIV-1/metabolism

Homovanillic Acid/cerebrospinal fluid

Humans

Hydroxyindoleacetic Acid/cerebrospinal fluid

Immunoglobulin G/blood

Male

Methoxyhydroxyphenylglycol/cerebrospinal fluid

Middle Aged

Neopterin

Serotonin/blood

Tryptophan/*blood/*cerebrospinal fluid

Zidovudine/*therapeutic use

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)