Scientists have discovered the primary indications that a number of the neurological signs in long-COVID are being attributable to protein clumps showing within the mind which are related to those who result in Alzheimer’s illness and dementia.
The examine, revealed within the journal Nature Communications, exhibits similarities between the results of COVID-19 and the early phases of neurodegenerative ailments reminiscent of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
The researchers cautioned that the implications of the adjustments had been unclear and didn’t essentially recommend individuals may need lasting harm or that the adjustments would possibly profoundly have an effect on considering, reminiscence or different features.
If additional research verify that amyloid clumps are contributing in direction of long-COVID, then medicine which have been developed to fight Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s could also be repurposed to deal with these debilitating neurological signs, the researchers stated.
“It may be possible that existing drugs may be used to treat the brain fog that affects a significant portion of people who go on to experience long-COVID having been infected with SARS-CoV-2,” stated Nick Reynolds from La Trobe University in Australia.
Long COVID is marked by neurological signs reminiscent of reminiscence loss, sensory confusion, extreme complications, and even stroke in as much as 30 per cent of circumstances, which may persist for months after the an infection is over.
While there’s proof that the virus can enter the mind of contaminated individuals, the exact mechanisms inflicting these neurological signs are unknown.
The researchers investigated if related amyloid clumps may very well be shaped from fragments of protein from SARS-CoV-2.
They discovered two such protein fragments that readily kind amyloids, referred to as ORF6 and ORF10, and that these are extremely poisonous to mind cells grown in a lab.
Reynolds stated the findings of aggregates of SARS-CoV-2 proteins in individuals with lengthy COVID could clarify the situation referred to as “brain fog”.
“These toxic clumps of protein, or amyloid assemblies, appear to be similar to those found in Alzheimer’s disease and may be responsible for some of the neurological symptoms of long-COVID,” Reynolds stated.
“We suggest that aggregates of SARS-CoV-2 proteins may trigger neurological symptoms in COVID-19 that many call brain fog,” he added.
Source: www.financialexpress.com”