tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Rev Med Virol
. 2023 Feb 15;e2430.
doi: 10.1002/rmv.2430. Online ahead of print.
Human brain organoids to explore SARS-CoV-2-induced effects on the central nervous system
Philipp Niklas Ostermann[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Heiner Schaal[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In less than three years, an estimated 600 million infections with SARS-CoV-2 occurred worldwide, resulting in a pandemic with tremendous impact especially on economic and health sectors. Initially considered a respiratory disease, COVID-19, along with its long-term sequelae (long-COVID) rather is a systemic disease. Neurological symptoms like dementia or encephalopathy were reported early during the pandemic as concomitants of the acute phase and as characteristics of long-COVID. An excessive inflammatory immune response is hypothesized to play a major role in this context. However, direct infection of neural cells may also contribute to the neurological aspects of (long)-COVID-19. To mainly explore such direct effects of SARS-CoV-2 on the central nervous system, human brain organoids provide a useful platform. Infecting these three-dimensional tissue cultures allows the study of viral neurotropism as well as of virus-induced effects on single cells or even the complex cellular network within the organoid. In this review, we summarize the experimental studies that used SARS-CoV-2-infected human brain organoids to unravel the complex nature of (long)-COVID-19-related neurological manifestations.
Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; blood brain barrier; blood cerebrospinal fluid barrier; central nervous system; choroid plexus; coronavirus; human brain organoids; long-COVID; neuroinvasion; neurotropism; organoids.
. 2023 Feb 15;e2430.
doi: 10.1002/rmv.2430. Online ahead of print.
Human brain organoids to explore SARS-CoV-2-induced effects on the central nervous system
Philipp Niklas Ostermann[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Heiner Schaal[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 36790825
- DOI: 10.1002/rmv.2430
Abstract
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In less than three years, an estimated 600 million infections with SARS-CoV-2 occurred worldwide, resulting in a pandemic with tremendous impact especially on economic and health sectors. Initially considered a respiratory disease, COVID-19, along with its long-term sequelae (long-COVID) rather is a systemic disease. Neurological symptoms like dementia or encephalopathy were reported early during the pandemic as concomitants of the acute phase and as characteristics of long-COVID. An excessive inflammatory immune response is hypothesized to play a major role in this context. However, direct infection of neural cells may also contribute to the neurological aspects of (long)-COVID-19. To mainly explore such direct effects of SARS-CoV-2 on the central nervous system, human brain organoids provide a useful platform. Infecting these three-dimensional tissue cultures allows the study of viral neurotropism as well as of virus-induced effects on single cells or even the complex cellular network within the organoid. In this review, we summarize the experimental studies that used SARS-CoV-2-infected human brain organoids to unravel the complex nature of (long)-COVID-19-related neurological manifestations.
Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; blood brain barrier; blood cerebrospinal fluid barrier; central nervous system; choroid plexus; coronavirus; human brain organoids; long-COVID; neuroinvasion; neurotropism; organoids.