AUTHOR=Chen Guochao , Cai Dan-Chao , Song Fengxiang , Zhan Yi , Wei Lei , Shi Chunzi , Wang He , Shi Yuxin 

TITLE=Morphological Changes of Frontal Areas in Male Individuals With HIV: A Deformation-Based Morphometry Analysis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2022.909437

DOI=10.3389/fneur.2022.909437

ISSN=1664-2295

ABSTRACT=Objective: Previous studies on HIV-infected (HIV+) individuals have revealed brain structural alterations underlying HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders. Most studies have adopted the widely used voxel-based morphological analysis of T1-weighted images or tracted-based analysis of diffusion tensor images. In this study, we investigated the HIV-related morphological changes using the deformation-based morphometry (DBM) analysis of T1-weighted images, which is another useful tool with high regional sensitivity.
Materials and methods: A total of 157 HIV+ (34.7 ± 8.5 y) and 110 age-matched HIV-uninfected (HIV-) (33.7 ± 10.1 y) males were recruited. All participants underwent neurocognitive assessments and brain scans including high-resolution structural imaging and resting-state functional imaging. Structural alterations in HIV+ individuals were analyzed using DBM. Functional brain networks connected to the deformed regions were further investigated in a seed-based connectivity analysis. The correlations between imaging and cognitive or clinical measures were examined.
Results: The DBM analysis revealed decreased values (i.e., tissue atrophy) in the bilateral frontal regions in the HIV+ group, including bilateral superior frontal gyrus, left middle frontal gyrus, and their neighboring white matter tract, superior corona radiata. The functional connectivity between the right superior frontal gyrus and the right inferior temporal region was enhanced in the HIV+ group, the connectivity strength of which was significantly correlated with the global deficit scores (r = 0.214, P = 0.034), and deficits in learning (r = 0.246, P = 0.014) and  recall (r = 0.218, P = 0.031). Increased DBM indexes (i.e., tissue enlargement) of the right cerebellum was also observed in the HIV+ group.
Conclusion: The current study revealed both gray and white matter volume changes in frontal regions and cerebellum in HIV+ individuals using DBM, complementing previous voxel-based morphological studies. Structural alterations were not limited to the local regions but accompanied with disrupted functional connectivity between them and other relevant regions. Disruptions in neural networks were associated with cognitive performance, which may be related to the HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders.