Special issue: Research report Mapping the brain in younger and older asymptomatic HIV-1 men: Frontal volume changes in the absence of other cortical or diffusion tensor abnormalities Karren J. Towgood a, *, Mervi Pitkanen b , Ranjababu Kulasegaram c , Alex Fradera a , Atul Kumar a , Suneetha Soni c , Naomi A. Sibtain d , Laurence Reed a , Caroline Bradbeer c , Gareth J. Barker a,1 and Michael D. Kopelman a,1, ** a King’s College London, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK b South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK c Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK d King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK article info Article history: Received 29 September 2010 Revised 12 January 2011 Accepted 3 March 2011 Published online 15 March 2011 Keywords: HIV-1 related neurological diseases Ageing Neurocognition Neuroimaging abstract Introduction: Over the past decade the developments made in treating people with human immune deficiency virus (HIV) have greatly improved quality of life and life expectancy. However, the nature of asymptomatic HIV-associated minor neurocognitive disorder (HAND) remains unclear. In this study we explored the occurrence of neuropsychological and neuroimaging changes in medically and psychiatrically stable HIV-1 infected patients on highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) from two separate age groups. Methods: Participants included 20 HIV-1 infected younger (aged 20e40) and 20 HIV-1 older patients (aged 50e75). Comparisons were made with 20 age- and education-matched younger and 22 matched older healthy seronegative males. Participants were stable on treatment and asymptomatic at study onset with undetectable HIV-1 viral loads, and free of medical or psychiatric co-morbidity, alcohol or substance misuse. A detailed neuro- psychological assessment was used and volumetric-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) performed to assess grey and white-matter integrity. Results: We found significant effects of ageing on memory, grey and white matter measures. Comparison of the HIV-positive and HIV-negative groups did not show signifi- cant differences on the neuropsychological tests after Bonferroni correction, and there were no significant age by HIV status interactions. However, we did find reduced grey matter volume on MRI in our HIV-positive participants within the medial and superior frontal gyri. We also found significant ageing effects in fronto-temporal grey and white matter, independent of the effect of HIV. Conclusions: The results from this study suggest that HIV-1 disease by itself does not significantly impair cognitive function when patients are otherwise asymptomatic. * Corresponding author. Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, PO43, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK. ** Corresponding author. Academic Department of Neuropsychiatry, 3rd Floor, Adamson Centre, South Wing Block, St Thomas’s Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7EH, UK. E-mail addresses: karren.towgood@kcl.ac.uk (K.J. Towgood), michael.kopelman@kcl.ac.uk (M.D. Kopelman). 1 Joint Senior Authors, both have contributed equally to the preparation of this manuscript. Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cortex cortex 48 (2012) 230 e241 0010-9452/$ e see front matter ª 2011 Elsevier Srl. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2011.03.006