J Exp Med: SARS-CoV-2 can infect nerve cells and cause tissue damage

A recent study by a team of scientists provides evidence that SARS-CoV-2 can directly infect cells in the central nervous system (CNS) and cause tissue damage.
SARS-CoV-2 infects lung tissue by binding to the cell surface angiosin conversion enzyme II (ACE-2) subject.
once the virus binds to the cells, the virus can enter the cells, causing respiratory symptoms such as shortness of breath and dry cough.
, however, recent studies have shown that the virus can also infect cells in the central nervous system and can block blood flow to the central nervous system.
study, published January 12 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, could explain why PATIENTs with COVID-19 develop neurological symptoms such as dizziness, confusion, stroke and coma.
team used three different brain models: human brain organs, genetically engineered mice, and autopsies on dead COVID-19 patients.
First, using human brain organs, the researchers found clear evidence of a human brain infection and found that the infection was accompanied by metabolic changes in neighboring neurons, but there was no evidence that a type I interferon response had been produced.
also found that blocking ACE-2 subjects with antibodies or giving coVID-19 patients cerebrospinal fluid could prevent neuronal infections.
also observed that human brain organs accumulate SARS-CoV-2-positive cells in specific brain regions, providing evidence of viral infections of neurons and self-replication.
SARS-CoV-2 virus in human brain organs under electroscopy, the researchers used mouse models of overexposed human ACE-2 to demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 can attack nerve cells in the body.
researchers detected high levels of infected nerve cells in the brains of SARS-CoV-2 infected mice and were associated with significant changes in blood vessels that could disrupt the flow of oxygen in the brain.
, the researchers examined the brains of three patients who died of severe COVID-19 complications, all of them from respiratory failure, and were admitted to the intensive care unit.
in the infected brain region, there are signs of tissue damage and cell death, manifested as isoemia infarction.
-positive virus staining, which occurs mainly around the edge of infarction, also found that although SARS-CoV-2 has neurologic properties that can infect neurons in patients, it does not cause a typical immune response like other neurovirus.