Poses neurological symptoms of long Covid such as headaches, sleep disturbances, and “brain fog,” or cognitive impairment.
SARS-CoV-2, the virus
behind the Covid-19 pandemic, remains in the skull and meninges for years after
infection, leading to a long-lasting effect on the brain, according to a major
German study.
Researchers from
Helmholtz Munich and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat (LMU) found that SARS-CoV-2
spike protein remains in the brain’s protective layers—the meninges, and the
skull’s bone marrow for up to four years after infection.
These spike proteins are
responsible for triggering chronic inflammation in affected individuals and
increase the risk of neurodegenerative diseases, the team found.
Prof. Ali Ertürk,
Director at the Institute for Intelligent Biotechnologies at Helmholtz Munich
said that the long-term neurological effects include “accelerated brain ageing,
potentially leading to a loss of five to 10 years of healthy brain function in
affected individuals.”
The study, published in
the journal Cell Host & Microbe, may also have neurological symptoms of
long Covid such as headaches, sleep disturbances, and “brain fog,” or cognitive
impairment.
About five to 10 per cent
of people infected with Covid are likely to experience long Covid—approximately
400 million individuals may carry a significant amount of the spike protein.
Notably, vaccines against
the deadly virus significantly reduce the accumulation of the spike protein in
the brain, said the researchers.
However, the reduction
was “only around 50 per cent in mice, leaving residual spike protein that
continues to pose a toxic risk to the brain”.
For the study, the team
developed a novel AI-powered imaging technique to understand how the SARS-CoV-2
spike protein affects the brain.
The method, which offers
a three-dimensional visualisation of viral proteins, was deployed to find
previously undetectable distributions of spike protein in tissue samples from
Covid-19 patients and mice.
The findings revealed
significantly elevated concentrations of spike protein in the skull’s bone
marrow and meninges, even years after infection.
The spike protein binds
to so-called ACE2 receptors, particularly abundant in these regions.
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