Parietal resting-state EEG alpha source connectivity is associated with subcortical white matter lesions in HIV-positive people

• Published in: Clinical neurophysiology 2023-12, Vol.156, p.19-27
• Main Authors: Babiloni, Claudio, Del Percio, Claudio, Piervincenzi, Claudia, Carducci, Filippo, Ferri, Raffaele, Onorati, Paolo, Toma, Ginevra, Ferracuti, Stefano, Roma, Paolo, Correr, Valentina, Di Campli, Francesco, Aceti, Antonio, Salvatore, Marco, Soricelli, Andrea, Teti, Elisabetta, Pennica, Alfredo, Sarmati, Loredana, Vullo, Vincenzo, D'Ettorre, Gabriella, Mastroianni, Claudio, Petsas, Nikolaos, Pantano, Patrizia, Floris, Roberto, Stocchi, Fabrizio, Andreoni, Massimo, Di Perri, Giovanni, Calcagno, Andrea, Noce, Giuseppe
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); Low-resolution brain electromagnetic source tomography (LORETA); Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); Resting state EEG rhythms
• ISSN: 1388-2457; 1872-8952
• DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2023.09.006

•Parietal rsEEG alpha source connectivity is associated with subcortical white matter vascular lesions in HIV.•This effect was also observed in HIV-positive persons with unimpaired cognition.•MRI-rsEEG markers may be used to screen HIV-positive persons at risk of neurocognitive disorders. Parietal resting-state electroencephalographic (rsEEG) alpha (8–10 Hz) source connectivity is abnormal in HIV-positive persons. Here we tested whether this abnormality may be associated with subcortical white matter vascular lesions in the cerebral hemispheres. Clinical, rsEEG, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) datasets in 38 HIV-positive persons and clinical and rsEEG datasets in 13 healthy controls were analyzed. Radiologists visually evaluated the subcortical white matter hyperintensities from T2-weighted FLAIR MRIs (i.e., Fazekas scale). In parallel, neurophysiologists estimated the eLORETA rsEEG source lagged linear connectivity from parietal cortical regions of interest. Compared to the HIV participants with no/negligible subcortical white matter hyperintensities, the HIV participants with mild/moderate subcortical white matter hyperintensities showed lower parietal interhemispheric rsEEG alpha lagged linear connectivity. This effect was also observed in HIV-positive persons with unimpaired cognition. This rsEEG marker allowed good discrimination (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve > 0.80) between the HIV-positive individuals with different amounts of subcortical white matter hyperintensities. The parietal rsEEG alpha source connectivity is associated with subcortical white matter vascular lesions in HIV-positive persons, even without neurocognitive disorders. Those MRI-rsEEG markers may be used to screen HIV-positive persons at risk of neurocognitive disorders.