The coronavirus can infect brain cells. The inflammatory response that follows from this could possibly contribute to the neurological and psychological complaints in many (former) patients. Dutch researchers have come to this conclusion.
Worldwide, many people who have experienced a corona infection struggle with complaints ranging from memory problems and headaches to rare psychoses and inflammation of the brain tissue. Because there are strong indications that the coronavirus can enter the central nervous system via the olfactory nerve, scientists from Erasmus MC, the medical center associated with Erasmus University Rotterdam, investigated what happens once the virus has reached the brain.
They discovered that SARS-CoV-2 can infect our brain cells, but that the transmission of the virus between cells quickly stops, limiting the damage. Nevertheless, the researchers did see that this limited infection leads to a reaction of the cytokines. These are the messengers between the immune cells that can play a role in local inflammation.
inflammatory response
According to the researchers, the inflammatory response that occurs in the brain may be one of the causes of the neurological complaints after an infection with the corona virus. “What we saw is consistent with the fact that infection with SARS-CoV-2 rarely leads to severe encephalitis (inflammation of the brain tissue, ed.) due to uncontrolled virus spread in the brain,” says virologist Debby van Riel (Erasmus MC).
“But the fact that SARS-CoV-2 could potentially enter the brain through the olfactory nerve and locally infect cells, triggering an inflammatory response, could certainly contribute to neurological symptoms.”
Other causes
But the researchers think that the brain-related complaints probably have other causes. “In addition to the findings from our research, it is likely that the immune system a role,” notes researcher Femke de Vrij (Erasmus MC) of the Psychiatry Department. “More research is needed to find out.”
Follow-up research should provide more information about what the coronavirus does in our brains in the longer term. “We have now monitored the virus in the cells over a short period of time,” continues de Vrij. “We have also only looked at a limited number of types of brain cells. By developing the cells in a different model into networks with more cell types and an organized structure, we can learn more about what a virus infection does within brain structures in the short and long term.”
Loss of brain tissue
This month turned out another study, in the United Kingdom, which showed a loss of brain tissue in most corona patients. That could explain why some people lose their sense of smell after being infected.
dr. Scott Gottlieb, a member of Pfizer’s board of directors, told the business site CNBC that “the reduction in the amount of cortical tissue occurred in regions of the brain close to the sites responsible for smell.” This suggests that “the loss of smell is just an effect of a more primary process going on, and that process is actually shrinking cortical tissue”.
(jvdh)
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