( report. The infection in the anima...)Antibiotic might fight HIV-induced neurological problems

"The infection in the animal model is predictable and aggressive, so we can get meaningful data by studying fewer animals," says Zink, who was on the team that developed the model about six years ago. "It's a really demanding test of a potential treatment for HIV."

The animal model has already helped improve understanding of how HIV might affect the brain, and this is the first time it's been used to test a potential treatment. Studies with the animals are augmented by laboratory experiments with cells to clarify observations.

Notably, these laboratory experiments have shown that minocycline somehow suppresses replication of HIV and SIV in macrophages -- the immune cells recruited to the brain during HIV infection -- and lymphocytes -- immune cells that carry "sleeping" HIV and SIV even when antiretroviral treatment is effective.

"If this preliminary observation holds up, minocycline could be really important for treating HIV infection in developing countries where access to traditional antiretroviral drugs is very limited," says Zink. "Most of the 40 million people with HIV infection live in these countries."