Yale Study Reveals COVID-19 Can Invade Brain, Causing Neurological Symptoms

Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University, led this study showing that Covid-19 is capable of replicating inside the brain. Worse, its presence deprives the surrounding brain cells of oxygen. However, the frequency of this situation remains to be determined.

To carry out this research work, Professor Iwasaki and her colleagues infected laboratory-created mini-brains (brain organoids), infected mice and examined the brains of patients who died from Covid-19.

In the brain organoids, the team made a rather strange discovery: the virus is capable of infecting neurons and then "hijacking" the neuron’s cell machinery to replicate. Also, the researchers discovered that the infected cells caused the death of the surrounding cells by depriving them of oxygen. Another discovery: the organoids had enough ACE2 to facilitate the virus’ entry, and the proteins were also present in the brains of deceased patients.

As for the mice infected in the lungs, they had lesions in this organ; the infected mice in the brain quickly lost weight and died quickly. This is a potential sign of increased lethality when the virus penetrates the brain. The brains of three patients who died from severe Covid-19 complications also showed traces of the virus to varying degrees, the study reveals.