Abstract #4435

Effects of pediatric HIV/antiretroviral therapy on basal ganglia metabolite-volume relationships

Frances C Robertson¹, Martha J Holmes¹, Emmanuel C Nwosu¹, Francesca Little², Mark F Cotton³, Els Dobbels³, Andre JW van der Kouwe^4,5, Barbara Laughton³, and Ernesta M Meintjes¹

¹Department of Human Biology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, ²Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, ³Department of Paediatrics & Child Health, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa, ⁴A.A. Martinos Centre for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, United States, ⁵Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States

HIV is associated with structural deficits in the basal ganglia (BG). Volumes from structural MRI may relate to metabolic changes measurable with magnetic resonance spectroscopy. We investigated the relationship between BG NAA and Glutamate/Glutamine and caudate, putamen, nucleus accumbens and subcortical gray matter (GM) volumes in 7-year old HIV-infected children on antiretroviral therapy and uninfected controls. Higher NAA was associated with smaller accumbens and left putamen in all children. Higher Glutamate/Glutamine was associated with greater subcortical GM in controls, but not HIV-infected children. Relationships between brain metabolites and volumes add to the description of effects of HIV/ART on the BG.

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