A MRI Study On Brain Function Abnormalities In HIV-infected Patients

Although potent combination antiretroviral therapy(cART)can inhibit plasma viral load in HIV-infected individuals,HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder(HAND)is still widespread,especially with asymptomatic neurocognitive impairment(ANI),a mild subtypes cognitive impairment,accounting for 33%and 60%of all HAND.At present,the pathogenesis of HAND has not been investigated clearly,and there is no more sensitive means for the diagnosis of early HAND.Therefore,the diagnosis of early HAND and its early diagnosis is still one of the major problems to be solved in the research filed.Functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI)is a technique that can acutely capture the subtle neurocognitive changes in the human brain,and has been widely used in the diagnosis and research of various neurological diseases.The study intends to use fMRI to investigate the brain damage of HIV-infected patients.Firstly,the Pearson correlation analysis was used to calculate the functional connectivity(FC)between the six functional networks of the HIV patient group and the normal group,and then the comparison between the groups was done to assess the damage of HIV virus to the resting state function network of the brain.Then,based on the results of brain network analysis,the bilateral lobule IX and lobule VI were extracted as the region of interest(ROI),and the Pearson correlation coefficient with the whole brain voxel time series was calculated based on ROI,a functional map between each ROI and the whole brain was obtained;and finally to compare and statistically analyze between groups to further assess the altered cerebro-cerebellum FC.Finally,combined with the neuropsychological test score,correlation analysis was performed between altered cerebro-cerebellum functional connections and cognitive performance.The resting-state fMRI analysis showed that the FC between the default mode network(DMN)and the salience network(SN)was significantly decreased in HAND patients compared with the healthy controls(HC).Based on cerebellar analysis,right lobule VI showed increased FC with the anterior cingulate cortex(ACC)and decreased FC with left hippocampus(HIP).Moreover,the partial correlation analysis indicated that the abnormal cerebro-cerebellum FC was negatively correlated with working memory scores;In addition,significant increased FCs were observed between right inferior frontal gyrus(IFG),right superior medial gyrus(SMG)and cerebellum.These findings suggested that cognitive impairment in HIV-infected patients may be related not only to abnormal FC between cerebral networks,but also to altered FC between the cerebellum and the cerebrum,and revealed new insights into the neural mechanisms of HAND,and may become a biomarker for early diagnosis of HAND.