Professor Choi In-soo’s team at Konkuk University (from the left, Professor Choi In-soo, doctoral student Kim Dong-hwi, master’s degree Kim Da-yoon, Korea Brain Research Institute’s Dr. Kim Do-geun, and doctoral student Kim Gyu-seong)
Seoul–(Newswire) November 2, 2023 — Professor Choi In-soo’s research team at Konkuk University College of Veterinary Medicine confirmed the infection, spread, and neurological effects of coronavirus in dogs.
This study was published in ‘Emerging Infectious Diseases (IF=11.8)’ published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It is a renowned international journal ranked in the top 10% in the categories of papers on epidemiology, infectious diseases, and microorganisms (medicine).
※ 논문명: Neurologic Effects of SARS-CoV-2 Transmitted among Dogs
This study was conducted jointly with researchers at the Korea Brain Research Institute (KBRI) and received support from the Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Quarantine Headquarters.
COVID-19, which has greatly changed the international community in recent years, is a respiratory infectious disease caused by a new type of coronavirus, ‘SARS-CoV-2’. Professor Choi In-soo’s team checked whether infection and spread occurred by combining the ‘infected group’, which infected dogs with SARS-CoV-2 distributed from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency through nasal vaccination, and the ‘contact group’, dogs that were not infected with the virus.
As a result, viral infection was confirmed in both the directly infected and contact groups, and not only lung damage but also brain damage due to viral infection occurred more clearly than the negative control group.
In particular, the researchers confirmed that SARS-CoV-2 causes pathological phenomena in the brain.
SARS-CoV-2 infection disrupts the dog’s ‘blood-brain-barrier (BBB)’ boundary, allowing blood coagulation factors fibrinogen and IgG to penetrate into the brain. In addition, CD4 positive immune cells, which are immune factors, also infiltrated the brain parenchyma, and astrocytes and microglia, which play the role of immune cells in the brain, were also activated.
In addition, pathological changes, including demyelination of neurons, were observed in the brains of dogs infected with SARS-CoV-2, and abnormal tau protein was accumulated. Additionally, when infection lasted for a relatively long period of time, a decrease in the number of nerve cells was observed.
These research results are important data that can indirectly support the claim that approximately 10% of people confirmed with COVID-19 experience neurological signs and symptoms. In addition, it suggests that dogs, which are companion animals, can not only spread COVID-19, but can also be suitable as a higher animal model to study neuropathology.
Professor Choi In-soo said, “This study shows clear experimental evidence that COVID-19 can infect dogs and be transmitted to other individuals through direct contact. Additionally, it was confirmed that pathological changes can occur in the brain even without clear clinical symptoms. “These pathological changes appear to be maintained even after infection, so the damage caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection may persist for a long time, including causing sequelae.”
This paper was also introduced in ‘People who make Korea shine’ by the Biological Research Information Center (BRIC). The Biological Research Information Center (BRIC) was established to promote research information and academic exchange for domestic and foreign life science (basic, applied, agricultural, marine and food) researchers, and is visited by about 40,000 users a day.
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News provided by Konkuk University
2023-11-02 02:54:59
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