Morphine increases hippocampal viral load and suppresses frontal lobe CCL5 expression in the LP-BM5 AIDS model

•We applied chronic morphine treatment to the LP-BM5 MAIDS model.•Morphine increased viral load in the hippocampus, but not in the frontal lobe.•Morphine reduced frontal lobe chemokine and cytokine production.•We observed region-specific effects for chronic morphine in the MAIDS brain.

Chronic opiate abuse accelerates the development of cognitive deficits in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 patients. To investigate morphine's effects on viral infection of the central nervous system, we applied chronic morphine treatment to the LP-BM5 murine acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (MAIDS) model. LP-BM5 infection induces proinflammatory cytokine/chemokine production, correlating to increased blood–brain barrier permeability. Morphine treatment significantly increased LP-BM5 viral load in the hippocampus, but not in the frontal lobe. Morphine reduced the chemokine CCL5 to non-infected levels in the frontal lobe, but not in the hippocampus. These data indicate a region-specific mechanism for morphine's effects on virally-induced neurocognitive deficits.