The Meucci lab published a new review article that outlines the interplay between chemokine and opioid signaling and how these systems may regulate synaptodendritic damage in HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). The article begins with a brief discussion of synaptodendritic damage in HAND and presents a small study on region-specific synaptic damage in two animal models of HAND. This is followed by a section on the mechanisms by which µ-opioid agonists contribute to synaptodendritic damage, and a discussion on exploiting the CXCL12-CXCR4 chemokine signaling axis to guide new therapeutic approaches that reverse dendritic spine deficits in HAND.

This article is part of a special issue published in Brain Research called “NeuroHIV in the current era: mechanisms and comorbidities contributing to cognitive impairment“, for which Dr. Meucci served as the guest editor.

The full-text article is available at Pubmed Central.