"Nature Medicine" "Combination" shows how SARS-CoV-2 infects brain cells

The results of the study will be published in the online journal Nature Medicine on July 9, 2021

"Clinical and epidemiological observations indicate that the brain may be involved in SARS-CoV-2 infection," said senior author Joseph Gleeson, MD, a Reddy Professor of Neuroscience at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Reddy Children's Genomic Medicine Research Director of Neuroscience Research of the Institute

"In the case of'Long COVID', the prospect of brain damage caused by COVID-2019 has become a major concern, but cultured human neurons are not susceptible to infection

Gleeson and his colleagues, including neuroscientists and infectious disease experts, confirmed that human nerve cells are resistant to SARS-CoV-2 infection

Pericytes are special cells that surround blood vessels and carry SARS-CoV2 receptors

Coronavirus can infect pericytes, which is a local chemical factory that produces SARS-CoV-2

Gleeson said that the results of the study show that a potential way for SARS-CoV-2 to enter the brain is through blood vessels.

"In addition, the infected pericytes may cause inflammation of blood vessels, followed by clotting, stroke or bleeding.

The researchers now plan to focus on developing improved aggregates that contain not only pericytes, but also blood vessels that can pump blood to better mimic a complete human brain

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Lu Wang, David Sievert, Alex E.