Cerebral metabolism in HIV infected patients with non-cognitive disorder using single voxel magnetic resonance spectroscopy

ObjectiveTo investigate the variance of metablites, including N-Acetyl aspartate (NAA), Choline (Cho) and Creatine (Cr), in brain regions of HIV infected patients with non-cognitive disorder and healthy volunteers by a 3.0 T magnetic resonance spectroscopy.MethodsSingle voxel magnetic resonance spectroscopy was applied to measure the basal ganglia region, frontal lobe and parietal lobe in 69 HIV infected patients and 33 healthy volunteers. According to CD4 T cell count, the patients were divided into 2 groups, group A (≥200 cells/μL, 40 patients) and group B (<200 cells/μL, 29 patients). The normal control group, group C, consisted of 33 healthy volunteers.ResultsThe patients in groups A and B had lower ratio of NAA/Cr but higher ratio of Cho/Cr in the basal ganglia region than group C (P < 0.001; P = 0.021). Compared to groups B and C, the patients in group A had higher ratios of NAA/Cr and Cho/Cr (P = 0.013; P < 0.001) in the frontal lobe. In the parietal lobe, the patients in group A had higher ratio of Cho/Cr than groups B and C (P = 0.037).ConclusionHIV infection induces inflammation in basal ganglia region, frontal lobe and parietal lobe before non-cognitive disorder occurs after HIV infection. However, the basal ganga region sees more neurons loss.