A new study from the University of Washington Health Sciences / UW Medicine firmly states that the Covid-19 virus can show cognitive effects to patients, such as mental confusion and fatigue.
The study published in Nature Neuroscience shows that SARS-CoV-2, the cause of Covid-19, can enter the brain. The researchers, using a mouse model, found that the spike protein, often represented as the red arms of the virus, can cross the blood-brain barrier in mice.
The spike protein, often called the S1 protein, dictates where the virus can enter. Typically, the virus does the same thing as its binding protein, said lead author William A. Banks, a professor of medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine and a physician and researcher with the Veterans Affairs Health System of the United States. Puget Sound.
Banks said: “Binding proteins like S1 usually cause damage on their own, as they shed the virus and cause inflammation. The S1 protein probably causes the brain to release cytokines and inflammatory products. “
In scientific circles, the intense inflammation caused by Covid-19 infection is called a cytokine storm. The immune system, seeing the virus and its proteins, overreacts in its attempt to kill the invading virus. The infected person is left with brain fog, fatigue, and other cognitive problems.
Banks and his team saw this reaction with the HIV virus and wanted to see if the same was happening with SARS CoV-2.
Banks said: “The S1 protein in SARS-CoV2 and the GP 120 protein in HIV-1 work in a similar way. They are glycoproteins, proteins that have many sugars, characteristics of proteins that bind to other receptors. “
The researchers further discovered that both proteins function as arms and hands for their viruses by latching onto other receptors. Both cross the blood-brain barrier and S1, like gp120, is likely to be toxic to brain tissues.
Fifteen people in the lab began their experiments with the S1 protein in April. They recruited longtime collaborator Jacob Raber, a professor in the departments of Behavioral Neuroscience, Neurology, and Radiologic Medicine, and his teams at Oregon Health and Science University.
The study could explain many of the complications of Covid-19.
“An additional explanation is that the virus enters the respiratory centers of the brain and causes problems there as well,” Banks said.
As for people who take the virus lightly, Banks stated: “You don’t want to mess with this virus. Many of the effects that the Covid virus has could be accentuated or perpetuated or even caused by the virus entering the brain and those effects could last a long time. ”
(This story was published from a news agency feed with no changes to the text.)
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