Correlation between blood-brain barrier permeability and cognitive impairment of neurosyphilis patients / 第二军医大学学报

ABSTRACT

Objective: To determine the cerebrospinal fluid/serum albumin ratio (QALB) in patients with neurosyphilis, and to explore the correlation between the blood-brain barrier permeability and the cognitive impairment. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on the clinical data from 93 patients with anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-negative neurosyphilis diagnosed by Changhai Hospital of Naval Medical University (Second Military Medical University) from Jan. 2010 to Jan. 2018. According to the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) score, the patients were divided into cognitive dysfunction group (n = 38) and non-cognitive dysfunction group (n = 55), and the demographic data, clinical data and cerebrospinal fluid biochemical data were compared between the two groups. Pearson bivariate correlation analysis was used to analyze the relationship between blood-brain barrier permeability and cognitive dysfunction in neurosyphilis patients. Results: There were no significant differences in gender, age, education level, marital status, cerebrospinal fluid leukocyte count, cerebrospinal fluid protein, immunoglobulin G (IgG), IgG index, 24-h intrathecal IgG synthesis, or oligoclonal band between the cognitive dysfunction group and non-cognitive dysfunction group (all P 7× 10-3) patients versus the normal QALB (≤7 ×10-3) patients (92.11% [35/38] vs 67.27% [37/55], χ2 7.927, P = 0.002). Pearson bivariate correlation analysis showed that QALB was negatively correlated with MMSE score (r 0.410, P = 0.024). Conclusion: The neurosyphilis patients with blood-brain barrier damage are prone to cognitive dysfunction, and the higher the blood-brain barrier permeability, the more serious the cognitive dysfunction. Monitoring the permeability of blood-brain barrier can contribute to the assessment of intelligent damage in patients with neurosyphilis.