Divergent structural and functional brain alterations in HIV-infected patients: a multimodal meta-analysis

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Neurobiology
• Medical Science

Background:

• Neuroimaging studies reveal inconsistent brain alterations in HIV-infected patients.
• Understanding these changes is crucial for addressing HIV-associated neurocognitive impairment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To characterize regional gray matter volume (GMV) and resting-state brain activity changes in HIV patients.
• To investigate the relationship between structural and functional brain abnormalities in HIV infection.
• To explore the influence of clinical variables on these neuroimaging findings.

Main Methods:

• Voxel-wise meta-analysis of voxel-based morphometry (VBM) studies for GMV.
• Meta-analysis of resting-state functional neuroimaging studies for brain activity.
• Multimodal analysis to identify overlapping structural and functional alterations.
• Meta-regression to assess clinical variable effects.

Main Results:

• HIV patients exhibited isolated structural abnormalities in the medial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulate cortex, calcarine cortex, and amygdala.
• Isolated functional abnormalities were observed in the middle frontal gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, and visual cortices.
• No combined structural and functional abnormalities were identified in the same brain regions.

Conclusions:

• HIV infection is associated with dissociated, rather than conjoint, structural and functional brain alterations.
• These findings provide a multimodal meta-analysis perspective on the neurobiology of HIV-associated neurocognitive impairment.
• Further research may elucidate the specific mechanisms underlying these distinct alterations.