Abstract
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 32px; border: none;">Chronic infection with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) results in proliferation of CD16++ peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). These cells induce pro-inflammatory responses in the periphery. This peripheral inflammation propagates to central nervous system tissues, where changes to brain functioning could become implicated in sickness behavior and depression. Systemic inflammation is linked to somatic symptoms of depression during chronic exposure to HIV, and recently we have shown greater inflammatory biomarker levels predict aberrant resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of cortical regions implicated in depression. Because HIV is associated with greater depression, aberrant rsFC, and proliferation of CD16++ monocytes, it was hypothesized that the interrelationships between these three indicators of psycho-neuro-immune function would be of greater magnitude in women living with HIV. <span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">In this study, intrinsic rsFC data from brain regions implicated in sickness behavior and depression were extracted from a 7-minute resting state fMRI scan, cell surface expression of PBMCs derived from flow cytometry analysis, and self-report survey of depressive symptomology was collected from 51 post-menopausal women ((25 HIV-positive (mean age 57.33 ±7.24)), 26 HIV-negative (mean age 56.27 ± 7.04)) was analyzed. The rsFC between the sgACC and the vmPFC was not significantly associated with a greater incidence of depressive symptomology. In the entire sample the ratio of non-classical and intermediate to classical monocytes did not relate to depressive symptomology, however, upon restricting the sample to persons endorsing mild-moderate depression a greater ratio of intermediate PBMCs was associated with greater rsFC of the sgACC and vmPFC seed regions. This effect did not vary as a function of HIV status.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 32px; border: none;"><o:p></o:p></p>