Long COVID - Blood Markers linked to Mental Problems

[Tom.G]

Viral particles linger in brain cells.

In a new study of long COVID published March 13, 2022, in the Annals of Neurology, UC San Francisco researchers identified biomarkers present at elevated levels that may persist for many months in the blood of study participants who had long COVID with neuropsychiatric symptoms.

“Now, we’re starting to identify objective biological measurements that correlate with what people are telling us about their long COVID symptoms.”

The analysis detected much higher average levels of two SARS-CoV-2 viral proteins they measured—the nucleocapsid protein and the spike protein—in blood plasma samples collected between six and 12 weeks after diagnosis from patients infected with COVID who had neuropsychiatric symptoms in comparison to samples from those who had long COVID, but who did not have neuropsychiatric symptoms.

Popular article:
https://neurosciencenews.com/long-covid-psychology-20684/

Research article:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ana.26350

Cheers,
Tom

 

[Godot_]

Viral particles linger in brain cells.The analysis detected much higher average levels of two SARS-CoV-2 viral proteins they measured—the nucleocapsid protein and the spike protein—in blood plasma samples collected [...]

Weeeelllll...

...it's a bit more complicated.

The work published here managed to show that certain brain-cell derived vesicles, which can be found in blood plasma, and can be specifically enriched with a laborious and costly procedure from said plasma, actually do contain these two SARS-CoV-2 proteins. And that these also contain mitochondrial proteins. Thereby supporting the hypothesis that Long-CoViD SARS-CoV-2 neuropathogenity might probably involve SARS-CoV-2 infecting the _mitichondria_ of brain cells.

No quick bloodwork lab test in sight...

 

[BillTre]

Thereby supporting the hypothesis that Long-CoViD SARS-CoV-2 neuropathogenity might probably involve SARS-CoV-2 infecting the _mitichondria_ of brain cells.

I haven't been following this too closely, but I don't see how a CoV-2 (genome, I guess) could infect mitochondria. Mitochondria have a very limited genome and a slimmed down kit of molecular tools compared with the cells in which the mitochondria live and which CoV-2 has evolved to take advantage of as a parasite.
how's that supposed to work? I don't get it.

 

[Astronuc]

New findings suggest there might be a connection between Covid-related loss of smell and cognitive impairment, but experts say more research is needed.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/heal...n-alzheimers-lose-sense-smell-covid-rcna40665

Previous research has found that some Covid patients go on to develop cognitive impairment after their infection. In the new study — which has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal — researchers in Argentina found that loss of smell during Covid may be a stronger predictor of cognitive decline, regardless of severity of disease.

“Our data strongly suggest that adults over 60 years of age are more vulnerable to cognitive impairment post-Covid if they had a smell dysfunction, regardless of the severity of the Covid,” said study co-author Gabriela Gonzalez-Aleman, a professor at Pontificia Universidad Catolica Argentina in Buenos Aires, adding that it’s too soon to tell if the cognitive impairment is permanent.