The spatial relationship between neurons and astrocytes in HIV-associated dementia

Specific neuronal spatial distributional patterns have previously been correlated with increasing severity of HIV-associated dementia (HAD). As astrocytes are also a putative site of neurotoxicity, we investigated the spatial relationships of astrocytes with pyramidal and interneurons in the superio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of neurovirology 2013-04, Vol.19 (2), p.123-130
Main Authors: Roberts, Eleanor S., Chana, Gursharan, Nguyen, Timothy B., Perera, Gayathri, Landau, Sabine, Rabe-Hesketh, Sophia, Glass, Jonathan D., McArthur, Justin, Everall, Ian Paul
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
AIDS Dementia Complex - pathology
AIDS Dementia Complex - physiopathology
Astrocytes - pathology
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Cell Communication
Cell Count
Human immunodeficiency virus
Humans
Immunology
Infectious Diseases
Interneurons - pathology
Male
Neurology
Neurosciences
Organ Size
Pyramidal Cells - pathology
Pyramidal Cells - physiopathology
Severity of Illness Index
Virology
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Summary:Specific neuronal spatial distributional patterns have previously been correlated with increasing severity of HIV-associated dementia (HAD). As astrocytes are also a putative site of neurotoxicity, we investigated the spatial relationships of astrocytes with pyramidal and interneurons in the superior frontal gyrus from 29 patients who died from acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Frontal cortical brain tissue was taken from diseased HIV patients who had been assessed for the presence and severity of HAD using the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Scale. No correlation was found between neuronal density and severity of dementia. However, the pattern of astrocytes became more clustered as dementia progressed. Bivariate spatial pattern analysis of neuronal populations with astrocytes revealed that, with increasing dementia severity, astrocytes and large pyramidal neurons increasingly “repelled” each other, while astrocytes and interneurons evidenced increasing “attraction.” This implies that astrocytes may be more likely to be situated in the vicinity of surviving interneurons but less likely to be situated near surviving large pyramidal neurons in the setting of progressing HAD.
ISSN:1355-0284
1538-2443
DOI:10.1007/s13365-013-0149-y