Cannabis- and HIV-related perturbations to the cortical gamma dynamics supporting inhibitory processing.
Brain communications January 1, 2025 Mikki Schantell, Mia C Lulli, Kellen M McDonald et al.
Cannabis use among people with HIV (PWH) is associated with stronger gamma oscillations during a somatosensory gating task, suggesting a potential protective effect on inhibitory neural processing. In a cross-sectional study of 108 participants (cannabis users and non-users with and without HIV), PWH who used cannabis showed elevated oscillatory gamma activity in the primary somatosensory cortex compared to PWH who did not use cannabis, who also exhibited elevated spontaneous gamma activity. Longer time since HIV diagnosis correlated with less efficient inhibitory processing only in PWH who did not use cannabis, indicating regular cannabis use may mitigate HIV-related neural deficits.