Study illuminates how COVID-19 worms its way into the brain
Research helps explain baffling neurological symptoms -- and why they're so unpredictable
New research offers an up-close view of how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can spread to the brain. The study helps explain the alarming array of neurological symptoms reported in some patients with COVID-19, as well as why some patients suffer severe neurological effects while others experience none at all.
The researchers report evidence that SARS-CoV-2 can infect both the nerve cells that power our brains (neurons), and the cells in the brain and spinal cord that support and protect neurons (astrocytes).
"Our findings suggest that astrocytes are a pathway through which COVID-19 causes neurological damage," said Ricardo Costa, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at the Louisiana State University (LSU) Health Shreveport and the study's first author. "This could explain many of the neurologic symptoms we see in COVID-19 patients, which include loss of sense of smell and taste, disorientation, psychosis and stroke."
Costa will present the research at the END
The researchers report evidence that SARS-CoV-2 can infect both the nerve cells that power our brains (neurons), and the cells in the brain and spinal cord that support and protect neurons (astrocytes).
"Our findings suggest that astrocytes are a pathway through which COVID-19 causes neurological damage," said Ricardo Costa, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at the Louisiana State University (LSU) Health Shreveport and the study's first author. "This could explain many of the neurologic symptoms we see in COVID-19 patients, which include loss of sense of smell and taste, disorientation, psychosis and stroke."
Costa will present the research at the END