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The most comprehensive molecular study to date on the brain tissues of people who died of COVID-19 shows that SARS-CoV-2 causes severe molecular changes in the brain, even though there are no molecular traces of the virus in the brain tissues. It provides clear evidence that.
Dr. Tony Wis Korey
“The signs that the virus leaves in the brain represent strong inflammation and disruption of brain circuits, similar to those observed in this area in Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases,” said Stanford University Neurology and Neurology. Dr. Tony Wiskorey, a professor of science, said. Stanford Medical School, California Medscape Medical News.
Research Published online June 21 Nature..
Signs of pain
“Up to one-third of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 show brain symptoms such as brain fog, memory loss, and malaise, and long after they appear to have recovered from the viral infection. We know that more and more people are showing symptoms. ” Wyss-Coray.
“But we have little understanding of how the virus causes these symptoms and their effects on the brain at the molecular level,” he added.
Researchers used a single-cell RNA sequence to isolate 65,309 nuclei from frontal cortex and choroid plexus samples from 8 controls who died of COVID-19 and 14 controls who died of other causes. I have created a profile for the transcriptome.
There was no molecular evidence of SARS-CoV-2 in brain tissue samples of patients who died of COVID-19.
Nonetheless, “regardless of the cell type we studied (nerve cells, immune cells, or various supporting cells in the brain), there were significant changes compared to deceased control brain tissue samples. I was very surprised to know, “said Wyss-Coray, another cause.
COVID-19 Brain changes showed signs of inflammation, abnormal neuronal communication, and chronic neurodegeneration.
“Over the cell type, the perturbation of COVID-19 overlaps with the perturbation of chronic brain damage and is present in cognitive-related genetic variation. schizophrenia,and depression“The researchers report.
“Viral infections appear to cause a systemic inflammatory response that can cross the blood-brain barrier and cause inflammatory signaling, which in turn can’remove’neuroinflammation of the brain,” Wiskorey said. He said.
Findings may help explain long COVID brain fog, malaise, and other neurological and psychiatric symptoms.
“We studied only the brains of people who died of COVID-19, but survivors of COVID-19, especially those with chronic brain symptoms, showed similar, but hopefully, signs of weak inflammation and chronic neurodegeneration. I think it’s likely to happen, “said Wyss-Coray.
This study was funded by the Nomis Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, Nan Fung Life Sciences, the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, and Stanford. Alzheimer’s disease Research center. The author does not disclose the relevant financial relationship.
Nature. Published online on June 21, 2021. Overview
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