A recent American study showed that the immune response to Covid-19, which leads to damage to cerebral blood vessels, may be responsible for the symptoms of “long-term Covid”, based on the analysis of a small number of cases.
This study, the results of which were published in the “Brain” magazine, included an analysis of the cases of nine people who died quickly after contracting Covid-19.
The team of researchers at the American Institutes of Health (NIH) did not detect any effects of the virus in the brain, but in turn, they found antibodies, which are responsible for the damage caused to the membranes of blood vessels, which especially cause infections.
This discovery could explain some of the long-term effects of Covid, including headaches, chronic fatigue, loss of sense of smell and taste, sleep problems and a sense of intellectual weakness, and it opens up “horses for future treatments.”
“Patients often develop neurological complications after Covid-19, but the pathophysiological pathway is not well understood,” the study’s lead author, Avindra Nat, said in a statement.
The researcher continued, “We previously showed the damage to blood vessels in the brain of patients during autopsies, but we did not understand the reason behind this,” adding, “I think this article provides us with new elements regarding this process.”
The brains of nine patients, aged between 24 and 73, were compared with ten other people from a control group, and the researchers monitored neuroinflammation and immune response.
And according to what scientists discovered, the antibodies that were secreted as a result of infection with Covid-19, mistakenly targeted the cells that make up the blood-brain barrier that surrounds blood vessels in the brain and tries to counteract foreign substances.
The deterioration that occurs can, in turn, lead to protein leakage, hemorrhages and clots in the blood, which increases the risk of “stroke”.
The extravasation can also trigger an immune response to repair damaged cells, causing inflammation, and disrupting the normal functioning of these damaged parts of the brain.
“It is entirely possible that the same immune response will infect patients with long-term Covid, leading to brain injury,” said researcher Avindra Nat, explaining that “these results have very important therapeutic implications.”
For example, people with long-term symptoms of Covid can be treated by reducing the production of antibodies responsible for damage to the brain.