2023-05-18 13:21:57
Research indicates that when the virus passes from mother to fetus it could leave sequelae for a lifetime
A study by the Institute of Neurosciences (IN-CSIC-UMH), a joint center of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and the Miguel Hernández University (UMH) of Elche, has verified that the transmission of covid-19 from the mother to the fetus could affect brain development and memory.
When the virus passes from mother to fetus It can leave scars for a lifetime., as reported this Thursday by the research center. In fact, the IN-CSIC-UMH study has revealed that the protein that allows SARS-CoV-2 to enter the body, ACE2, is expressed during the development of the part of the brain that allows memories and forms of learning to be generated. .
This discovery has been derived from the investigation carried out by a Biotechnology student from the University of Murcia during the realization of his Final degree project.
With neonates in mind, the IN researchers set out to determine how vulnerable developing brain cells are to SARS-CoV-2 and how it might affect their nervous system. UMH professor Salvador Martínez, leader of the study published in the journal Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences explains the importance of understanding how covid-19 affects a developing brain, since it “This virus goes way beyond the respiratory system.”
Protein
His experiments have focused on localizing the expression of the protein that exposes human cells to coronavirus infection, la enzima ACE2.
“The ACE2 enzyme, located on the outside of cells, is a kind of ‘entry door’ of the virus. In fact, during SARS-CoV-2 infection, this enzyme is activated,” explained Martínez, who heads the Experimental Embryology research group at the Institute of Neurosciences on the UMH Sant Joan d’Alacant campus.
Therefore, “It is urgent to know how this enzyme behaves in the human brain being developed to be able to prevent infection during pregnancy, to monitor the maturation of the fetal nervous system and, also, to be able to assess the possible effects on the mental health of children born after exposure to the virus,” he pointed out.
For this reason, the presence of ACE2 has been studied at week 20 of gestation, a crucial period in which the cerebral cortex is formed.
hippocampus and memory
The hippocampus is a region of the cerebral cortex that contains the neurons and circuits necessary to create new memories. In addition, the area of the hippocampus called the ‘dentate gyrus’ is one of the two areas of the brain in which new neurons are generated even during adulthood.
This is formed from week 12 to week 25 of pregnancy, when what are known as neuronal precursors proliferate and migrate, which will give rise to other types of nervous system cells such as neurons, glia and oligodendrocytes.
These new neurons are the substrate to connect and generate the necessary circuits to process new information and, therefore, are crucial for cognitive development.
The scientific community points out that contracting covid-19 during the first weeks of pregnancy is a risk factor which should be monitored even in the postnatal period.
“For obvious reasons, it is impossible to determine the long-term consequences of an infection in the womb, but precisely for this reason it is important that we now make an effort to study in the laboratory which cells and tissues of the nervous system can be seen.” affected,” the researchers warned.
Las new variants of the coronavirus are less aggressive, but also ‘more transmissible’, the researchers explained in the scientific publication. Precisely, the Delta and micron variants infect humans more easily because they have more affinity with that ACE2 enzyme. This increases the risk of contagion, particularly among the unvaccinated population, which represents a large proportion of young people of childbearing age and also those with fewer health resources.
According to the criteria of
The Trust Project
Know more
#Transmission #covid19 #fetus #affects #brain #development #memory