Elevated stress is associated with prefrontal cortex dysfunction during a verbal memory task in women with HIV

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Infectious Diseases

Background:

• HIV infection can impact cognitive functions, particularly verbal learning and memory.
• High perceived stress is a significant factor potentially exacerbating cognitive deficits in HIV-infected individuals.
• Stress is associated with prefrontal cortex (PFC) atrophy, affecting memory functions reliant on the PFC.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between perceived stress and PFC activation during a verbal memory task in HIV-infected women.
• To understand how stress influences PFC function and contributes to memory impairments in this population.

Main Methods:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to assess brain activity during verbal memory encoding and recognition.
• Participants completed standardized tests for verbal learning, memory, and perceived stress.
• 36 HIV-infected women from the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) were included.

Main Results:

• Women with higher perceived stress performed worse on verbal memory outcomes, including strategic encoding.
• Differences in brain activation were observed during memory recognition, not encoding.
• Higher stress was associated with greater deactivation in the medial PFC and posterior cingulate cortex during recognition.

Conclusions:

• Perceived stress may alter medial PFC function in HIV-infected women.
• These alterations in PFC function are linked to less efficient strategic retrieval and verbal memory deficits.
• Findings highlight the role of stress in cognitive impairment among HIV-infected women.