With the Kovid-19 epidemic coming after the wave in many parts of the world, researchers have given a new look at the tiny coronavirus responsible for the massive chaos.
Each SARS-Co-2 virus particle – virion – is a speckled protein ball, enclosing the genetic material, about 50-200 nanometers wide. Somehow, even bright false colored micrographs infect human lung cells, making them almost visible … decorative.
Camille Ehre, a biochemist at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine and Medicine, has published new images of the SARS-Cavi-2 virus. New England Journal of Medicine; They explain how these microscopic cancers can infect our airways.
The team introduced SARS-CoV-2 in a laboratory of human bronchial epithelial cells – the cells that provide a barrier between the lungs and the air in our bloodstream. They left the two mixed for 96 hours, and then used a scanning electron microscope to record the results.
“The production of the virus was about 3 × 106 “Plaque-forming units per culture, a discovery that is consistent with the large number of cells produced and dissolved,” the team writes.
The images above and below are incorrectly painted by Cameron Morrison, a student at UNC Medical, and show hair-like structures called cilia in blue, strands of yellow-green mucus, and SARS-Cavi-2 in red.
The image at the top of this article shows the compositions in a broader context with small red virus particles, while the image below clearly shows the composition of small particles and the density of the virus.
(Ehre Lab / UNC School of Medicine)
You may know that the cilia that live in your gut, but also inside the lungs, help protect our respiratory organs from pathogens, keep the lungs moist, and self-cleanse.
You can see an example of where they are in the picture below:
(Via BlueSen.com Staff / Wiki Journal of Medicine / CC BY 3.0)
While the new micrographs may seem really surprising, they are more than just an innovation.
Images show a large number of viruses produced when a virus hijacks our cells. In humans, the resulting virone may cry, talk, or breathe in the air, giving us a very large reminder of people wearing masks, and keeping your distance from others to limit the spread.
And maybe, looking at those small virus particles, we’ll be able to see the bigger picture better.
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