title: The spatial relationship between neurons and astrocytes in HIV-associated dementia.
abstract: 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.
authors: King's College London, Guy's Campus, Room 1.18 Hodgkin Building, SE1 1UL, London, UK.
authors: Eleanor S
authors: ES
authors: Roberts
authors: Gursharan
authors: G
authors: Chana
authors: Timothy B
authors: TB
authors: Nguyen
authors: Gayathri
authors: G
authors: Perera
authors: Sabine
authors: S
authors: Landau
authors: Sophia
authors: S
authors: Rabe-Hesketh
authors: Jonathan D
authors: JD
authors: Glass
authors: Justin
authors: J
authors: McArthur
authors: Ian Paul
authors: IP
authors: Everall
mesh_terms: D015526:AIDS Dementia Complex / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000473:pathology*; D002450:Cell Communication; D002452:Cell Count; D006801:Humans; D007395:Interneurons / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size; D017966:Pyramidal Cells / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index