Abstract
Chronic infection with HIV is associated with impaired endothelial function and altered cerebral blood flow (CBF). Using fMRI Arterial Spin Labeling, we sought to determine 1) whether CBF in HIV+ postmenopausal women (n = 8, mean age = 55.13, SD = 5.38) differs from that of HIV- controls (n = 13, mean age = 53.77, SD = 6.41), and 2) whether a marker of angiogenic potential, i.e. endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) cluster formation, and time since HIV infection covary with CBF in HIV+ women (n = 8). After controlling for age, HIV+ individuals showed increased ventral perfusion extending from the inferior frontal lobes through the basal ganglia and cerebellar regions, k = 105271, p = .001, FWE-corrected (cluster). However, longer disease duration was associated with reduced perfusion to the right parahippocampal gyrus, k = 4,916, p = .001, uncorrected. Paradoxically, higher EPC clusters predicted greater CBF to the right parahippocampal gyrus, k = 10791, p < .05, uncorrected. Post hoc correlational analyses revealed a trend towards lower numbers of ex vivo EPC clusters with longer disease duration in the HIV+ group, r = .576, p > .05. While longer disease duration places postmenopausal HIV+ women at risk of lower CBF to the parahippocampal gyrus, this effect may be mitigated by the angiogenic potential of peripheral blood mononuclear cell derived EPCs.
