Investigating the effects of living with HIV on neural circuits involved in reward processing in adolescents

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dc.contributor.advisorMeintjes, Ernesta
dc.contributor.advisorRobertson, Frances
dc.contributor.authorMac Arthur, Anika
dc.date.accessioned2025-02-26T11:38:59Z
dc.date.available2025-02-26T11:38:59Z
dc.date.issued2024
dc.date.updated2025-02-26T11:35:57Z
dc.description.abstractThe CHER (Children with HIV Early Antiretroviral) trial found that early ART (12- weeks) reduced mortality and morbidity in children with perinatal HIV (CPHIV). Despite early ART, CPHIV from the CHER trial demonstrate neuroimaging alterations, but little is known about the effects of PHIV and long-term ART on the adolescent brain. Adolescence is a time of increased vulnerability to risk-taking behaviour. Here, neural circuits involved in reward processing during adolescence are investigated using functional MRI (fMRI). FMRI scans acquired during a Reward Magnitude Task were available for 106 socio economically matched adolescents (66 children perinatally infected with HIV (CPHIV), 40 controls living without HIV; age 150.4 years). Data were preprocessed using fMRIPrep. Differences in brain activation for anticipation, monetary wins vs losses, and reward/loss outcome magnitudes were compared between CPHIV and controls using FSL FEAT. Z-statistic images were thresholded at Z>3.1 and a cluster significance threshold of p=0.05. Across all subjects, there were robust responses to reward processing (win>loss) in the striatum (38,610mm3 ; peak MNI -10.1; 9.1; 0.7) and in the (ventromedial) prefrontal cortex (11,280mm3 ; peak MNI -5.3; 25.9; 41.5). There were no regions where activation increases, for any of our contrasts, were greater in CPHIV than controls, but CPHIV showed smaller activation increases than controls during anticipation and reward processing. We specifically saw smaller activation increases during processing of larger wins in 2 distinct small left superior frontal clusters as well as in the left paracingulate gyrus. Similar to findings from the Human Connectome Project in Development, the task reliably activated striatal and medial frontal regions involved in decision-making and reward seeking/processing. While we found no differences between CPHIV and controls within this reward processing network, CPHIV showed smaller activation differences in our contrasts in the left superior frontal cortex – a region involved in the working memory component of executive function. Notably, impaired working memory processing and storage, especially in the visual domain, has been reported previously in children living with HIV. The current finding suggests that HIV-related brain response abnormalities in working memory regions may impact reward processing.
dc.identifier.apacitationMac Arthur, A. (2024). <i>Investigating the effects of living with HIV on neural circuits involved in reward processing in adolescents</i>. (). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Health Sciences ,Department of Human Biology. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41030en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationMac Arthur, Anika. <i>"Investigating the effects of living with HIV on neural circuits involved in reward processing in adolescents."</i> ., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Health Sciences ,Department of Human Biology, 2024. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41030en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationMac Arthur, A. 2024. Investigating the effects of living with HIV on neural circuits involved in reward processing in adolescents. . University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Health Sciences ,Department of Human Biology. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41030en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Mac Arthur, Anika AB - The CHER (Children with HIV Early Antiretroviral) trial found that early ART (12- weeks) reduced mortality and morbidity in children with perinatal HIV (CPHIV). Despite early ART, CPHIV from the CHER trial demonstrate neuroimaging alterations, but little is known about the effects of PHIV and long-term ART on the adolescent brain. Adolescence is a time of increased vulnerability to risk-taking behaviour. Here, neural circuits involved in reward processing during adolescence are investigated using functional MRI (fMRI). FMRI scans acquired during a Reward Magnitude Task were available for 106 socio economically matched adolescents (66 children perinatally infected with HIV (CPHIV), 40 controls living without HIV; age 150.4 years). Data were preprocessed using fMRIPrep. Differences in brain activation for anticipation, monetary wins vs losses, and reward/loss outcome magnitudes were compared between CPHIV and controls using FSL FEAT. Z-statistic images were thresholded at Z>3.1 and a cluster significance threshold of p=0.05. Across all subjects, there were robust responses to reward processing (win>loss) in the striatum (38,610mm3 ; peak MNI -10.1; 9.1; 0.7) and in the (ventromedial) prefrontal cortex (11,280mm3 ; peak MNI -5.3; 25.9; 41.5). There were no regions where activation increases, for any of our contrasts, were greater in CPHIV than controls, but CPHIV showed smaller activation increases than controls during anticipation and reward processing. We specifically saw smaller activation increases during processing of larger wins in 2 distinct small left superior frontal clusters as well as in the left paracingulate gyrus. Similar to findings from the Human Connectome Project in Development, the task reliably activated striatal and medial frontal regions involved in decision-making and reward seeking/processing. While we found no differences between CPHIV and controls within this reward processing network, CPHIV showed smaller activation differences in our contrasts in the left superior frontal cortex – a region involved in the working memory component of executive function. Notably, impaired working memory processing and storage, especially in the visual domain, has been reported previously in children living with HIV. The current finding suggests that HIV-related brain response abnormalities in working memory regions may impact reward processing. DA - 2024 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town KW - HIV KW - neural circuits KW - adolescents LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2024 T1 - Investigating the effects of living with HIV on neural circuits involved in reward processing in adolescents TI - Investigating the effects of living with HIV on neural circuits involved in reward processing in adolescents UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41030 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/41030
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationMac Arthur A. Investigating the effects of living with HIV on neural circuits involved in reward processing in adolescents. []. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Health Sciences ,Department of Human Biology, 2024 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41030en_ZA
dc.language.isoen
dc.language.rfc3066eng
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Human Biology
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Health Sciences
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subjectHIV
dc.subjectneural circuits
dc.subjectadolescents
dc.titleInvestigating the effects of living with HIV on neural circuits involved in reward processing in adolescents
dc.typeThesis / Dissertation
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationlevelMSc
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