Elevated stress is associated with prefrontal cortex dysfunction during a verbal memory task in women with HIV.
HIV-infected women may be particularly vulnerable to verbal learning and memory deficits. One factor contributing to these deficits is high perceived stress, which is associated with prefrontal cortical (PFC) atrophy and memory outcomes sensitive to PFC function, including retrieval and semantic clustering. We examined the association between stress and PFC activation during a verbal memory task in 36 HIV-infected women from the Chicago Consortium of the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) to better understand the role of the PFC in this stress-related impairment. Participants completed standardized measures of verbal learning and memory and stress (perceived stress scale-10). We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess brain function while participants completed encoding and recognition phases of a verbal memory task. HIV-infected women with higher stress (scores in top tertile) performed worse on all verbal memory outcomes including strategic encoding (p < 0.05) compared to HIV-infected women with lower stress (scores in lower two tertiles). Patterns of brain activation during recognition (but not encoding) differed between women with higher vs. lower stress. During recognition, women with higher stress demonstrated greater deactivation in medial PFC and posterior cingulate cortex compared to women with lower stress (p < 0.05). Greater deactivation in medial PFC marginally related to less efficient strategic retrieval (p = 0.06). Similar results were found in analyses focusing on PTSD symptoms. Results suggest that stress might alter the function of the medial PFC in HIV-infected women resulting in less efficient strategic retrieval and deficits in verbal memory.
Department of Psychiatry (MC 913), University of Illinois at Chicago, 912 S Wood St, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA. lrubin2@uic.edu.
Leah H
LH
Rubin
Department of Psychiatry (MC 913), University of Illinois at Chicago, 912 S Wood St, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA.
Minjie
M
Wu
Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.|Einstein Aging Study and the Department of Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NYC, USA.
Erin E
EE
Sundermann
Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
Vanessa J
VJ
Meyer
Department of Psychiatry (MC 913), University of Illinois at Chicago, 912 S Wood St, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA.
Rachael
R
Smith
The Core Center, Cook County Health and Hospital System and Hektoen Institute of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA.
Kathleen M
KM
Weber
The Core Center, Cook County Health and Hospital System and Hektoen Institute of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA.|Department of Medicine Stroger Hospital and Rush University, Chicago, IL, USA.
Mardge H
MH
Cohen
Baylor Scott & White Health, Temple, TX, USA.|Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Temple, TX, USA.
Deborah M
DM
Little
Department of Psychiatry (MC 913), University of Illinois at Chicago, 912 S Wood St, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA.|Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
Pauline M
PM
Maki
D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology
HIV; Prefrontal cortex; Stress; Verbal memory; fMRI