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The joint effect of aging and HIV infection on microstructure of white matter bundles

Taylor Kuhn1, Yan Jin2,3, Chao Huang3

  • 1Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.

Human Brain Mapping
|July 5, 2019
PubMed

Insights

HIV accelerates aging, particularly impacting white matter (WM) integrity. Advanced age combined with HIV significantly worsens WM microstructure, increasing brain and cognitive risks for HIV-positive individuals.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Gerontology

Background:

  • The aging process may be accelerated by Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
  • White matter (WM) degradation is independently linked to both HIV and healthy aging.
  • WM integrity may be particularly vulnerable to the combined effects of HIV and aging.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the joint effect of advanced age and HIV on white matter (WM) microstructure.
  • To assess how aging and HIV interact to influence specific diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) metrics in WM tracts.

Main Methods:

  • Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) was performed on HIV-seropositive (n=72) and HIV-seronegative (n=34) adults.
  • Tractography was used to analyze DWI data, parcellating 18 white matter tracts of interest (TOIs).
  • Functional Analysis of Diffusion Tensor Tract Statistics (FADTTS) regression assessed the interaction of age and HIV on fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), axial diffusivity (AD), and radial diffusivity (RD).

Main Results:

  • Significant main effects of both age and HIV were observed on WM microstructure.
  • A significant interactive effect of age and HIV was found, leading to lower FA and higher MD, AD, and RD across all analyzed WM tracts.
  • The observed patterns of WM alterations align with the clinical presentation of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders.

Conclusions:

  • While older age negatively impacts WM microstructure, this detrimental effect is amplified in individuals with HIV.
  • The combined effects of aging and HIV significantly compromise WM integrity.
  • Loss of WM integrity in aging HIV+ individuals may elevate the risk for neurological and cognitive decline.
Keywords:
DTIHIVagingtractographywhite matter

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