Just a 7,6% of patients with persistent covid they have recovered during the first two years of suffering from the syndrome. This new disease, which in Catalonia affects some 200.000 personas according to the doctors and for which there’s no cureNow one of the great challenges of the health system, which must not only care for people who are already sick, but also prepare for those who will continue to get sick. Be women, have previous pathologies and a lowest educational level are factors associated with risk of suffering persistent covid (‘long covid’).
The worrying thing is that until now, Scientists have not developed effective treatments that help treat a disease that can affect multiple organs such as the brain, kidneys, lungs, heart and even the skin.
However, recent research offers a glimmer of hope to better understand this phenomenon. It was published in the American specialized magazine Cell and found that long covid would be associated with a reduction in serotonin, also known as the happiness hormone.
In other words, these patients would have considerably lower levels of serotonin compared to those who have not experienced the aftereffects of the virus.
According to the researchers, belonging to the University of Pennsylvania, “viral infection and inflammation caused by interferon (a natural substance that helps the immune system fight infections and other diseases) type I reduce serotonin through three mechanisms.”
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that reduced serotonin, in turn, impedes vagus nerve activity, one of the main nerves of the nervous system, and therefore impairs the responses and memory of the hippocampus, a brain structure that is responsible, among other things, for the generation and retrieval of memories.
The study linked the four hypotheses that were previously had in order to provide practical knowledge for therapeutic interventions, including serotonin-increasing medications.
Serotonin is a ubiquitous neurotransmitter that primarily regulates behaviormood, memory and gastrointestinal homeostasis. It is a precursor of melatonin, the hormone that adjusts the sleep-wake cycle to a rhythm close to 24 hours, hence the name circadian. [“circa” (alrededor) y “diem” (día)].
Serotonin is mainly manufactured in the intestine, also in the brain, from an essential amino acid: tryptophan, explains Dr. Martín Caicoya.
“We didn’t expect Sars-Cov-2 will also play with serotonin, as some researchers who studied intestinal production in patients with persistent covid say,” he adds.
In viral infections, the level of serotonin in the blood decreases; After the illness, he recovers. This also happens in acute covid. But when the patient who has suffered it, after a few weeks, experiences varied symptoms, It’s possible that it’s because you didn’t get your serotonin level back.
2023-10-26 08:05:00
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