Few studies have examined neuroimmune pathways that could contribute to impulsivity in people living with HIV who use substances. Eighty-four methamphetamine-using, sexual minority men with an undetectable HIV viral load were administered the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), a behavioral measure of risk-taking propensity. We examined the associations between kynurenine/tryptophan ratio and phenylalanine/tyrosine ratio with BART scores using multiple linear regression. A higher kynurenine/tryptophan ratio was independently associated with greater BART scores (beta = 0.25; 95% CI = 0.05–1.23; p = 0.034). The phenylalanine/tyrosine ratio was not significantly associated with BART scores. Findings support the need for further research to elucidate the neuroimmune mechanisms linking tryptophan degradation with impulsivity to catalyze the development novel pharmacologic treatments for people living with HIV who use methamphetamine.

很少有研究检查可能导致使用物质的 HIV 感染者的冲动的神经免疫通路。对 84 名使用甲基苯丙胺、HIV 病毒载量无法检测的性少数男性进行了气球模拟风险任务 (BART)，这是一种衡量冒险倾向的行为指标。我们使用多元线性回归检查了犬尿氨酸/色氨酸比率和苯丙氨酸/酪氨酸比率与 BART 分数之间的关联。较高的犬尿氨酸/色氨酸比率与较高的 BART 评分独立相关（β = 0.25；95% CI = 0.05–1.23；p = 0.034）。苯丙氨酸/酪氨酸比率与 BART 评分没有显着相关性。研究结果支持进一步研究的需要，以阐明将色氨酸降解与冲动联系起来的神经免疫机制，以促进为使用甲基苯丙胺的 HIV 感染者开发新型药物治疗。