| Publication Abstract Display | | Type: Published Abstract | | Title: Cerebral dendritic arborization is associated with degree of cognitive impairment in HIV infection. | | Authors: Marcotte TD, Masliah E, Heaton RK, Ellis RJ, Wiley C, Mallory M, McCutchan JA, Atkinson JH, Grant I, and the HNRC Group | | Year: 1996 | | Publication: XI International Conference on AIDS | | Volume: Issue: Pages: 24 | | Abstract:Objective: To determine if cortical dendritic arborization, assessed at autopsy, correlates with cognitive functioning during life in individuals who had HIV infection and varying neurocognitive impairment. Methods: Midfrontal cortical sections from 19 subjects who received a comprehensive neuropsychological (NP) and neurological assessment within 18 months of death were immunostained to determine the percent of neuropil covered with dendrites. Prior to death, all cases were diagnosed as to whether they were cognitively Normal or met criteria for Minor Cognitive Motor Disorder (MCMD) or HIV-Associated Dementia (HAD). Subjects with NP impairment who did not meet syndromal criteria were called NP Impaired (NPI). Results: The mean time between assessment and death was 232 (SD=164.3) days. Nine subjects were diagnosed as cognitively Normal, 5 were NP Impaired, 4 met MCMD criteria, and 1 met HAD criteria. Dendritic percentages were significantly different among the groups (p =.001), with the Normal subjects (mean = 20.5) consistently higher than MCMD (mean = 13.3) and HAD (12.5) subjects. The NPI subjects (mean = 17.3) had counts that generally fell between subjects with Normal NP functioning and those with syndromal impairment. There was a strong correlation between postmortem dendritic complexity and overall NP functioning (r = -.67; p =.002), as well as with specific perceptual-motor, abstraction, learning, and verbal abilities. Conclusions: Injury to the neuronal dendritic structure in the midfrontal lobes is strongly associated with pre-agonal cognitive functioning, and it appears that a threshold of damage must be reached for cognitive impairment to become overtly symptomatic. |
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