Preliminary comparative study of cortical thickness in HIV-infected patients with and without working memory deficit

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 16; no. 12; p. e0261208
• Main Authors: Cabral, Rafael Ferracini, Corrêa, Diogo Goulart, Zimmermann, Nicolle, Tukamoto, Gustavo, Kubo, Tadeu Takao Almodovar, Fonseca, Rochele Paz, Silva, Marcos Martins, Wilner, Nina Ventura, Bahia, Paulo Roberto Valle, Gasparetto, Emerson Leandro, Marchiori, Edson
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 10.12.2021; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Analysis; Attention; Biology and Life Sciences; Brain; Brazil - epidemiology; Care and treatment; Cerebral cortex; Cerebral Cortex - pathology; Cerebral Cortex - virology; Clusters; Cocaine; Cognition; Cognition disorders; Cognitive ability; Comparative studies; Computer programs; Contraindications; Dementia; Diagnosis; Ecstasy; Female; Frontal gyrus; HIV; HIV - isolation & purification; HIV Infections - epidemiology; HIV Infections - pathology; HIV Infections - psychology; HIV Infections - virology; HIV patients; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Infections; Inflammation; Inflammatory response; Intelligence; Male; Measurement; Medicine and Health Sciences; Memory; Memory Disorders - epidemiology; Memory Disorders - pathology; Memory Disorders - psychology; Memory Disorders - virology; Memory, Short-Term - physiology; Middle Aged; Monte Carlo simulation; Mortality; Neuroimaging; Neuropsychological Tests; Neuropsychology; Quality of life; Ratings & rankings; Research and Analysis Methods; Risk factors; Sequences; Short term memory; Social Sciences; Software; Thickness; Brazil; Rio de Janeiro Brazil
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0261208

Changes in cerebral cortical regions occur in HIV-infected patients, even in those with mild neurocognitive disorders. Working memory / attention is one of the most affected cognitive domain in these patients, worsening their quality of life. Our objective was to assess whether cortical thickness differs between HIV-infected patients with and without working memory deficit. Forty-one adult HIV-infected patients with and without working memory deficit were imaged on a 1.5 T scanner. Working memory deficit was classified by composite Z scores for performance on the Digits and Letter-Number Sequencing subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (third edition; WAIS-III). Cortical thickness was determined using FreeSurfer software. Differences in mean cortical thickness between groups, corrected for multiple comparisons using Monte-Carlo simulation, were examined using the query design estimate contrast tool of the FreeSurfer software. Greater cortical thickness in left pars opercularis of the inferior frontal gyrus, and rostral and caudal portions of the left middle frontal gyrus (cluster 1; p = .004), and left superior frontal gyrus (cluster 2; p = .004) was observed in HIV-infected patients with working memory deficit compared with those without such deficit. Negative correlations were found between WAIS-III-based Z scores and cortical thickness in the two clusters (cluster 1: ρ = -0.59; cluster 2: ρ = -0.47). HIV-infected patients with working memory deficit have regions of greater thickness in the left frontal cortices compared with those without such deficit, which may reflect increased synaptic contacts and/or an inflammatory response related to the damage caused by HIV infection.