ACS Chem Neurosci
. 2021 Jun 8.
doi: 10.1021/acschemneuro.1c00111. Online ahead of print.
Inflammatory Response Leads to Neuronal Death in Human Post-Mortem Cerebral Cortex in Patients with COVID-19
Mahdi Eskandarian Boroujeni 1 , Leila Simani 2 , Hans A R Bluyssen 1 , Hamid Reza Samadikhah 3 , Soheila Zamanlui Benisi 4 , Sanaz Hassani 1 , Nader Akbari Dilmaghani 2 , Mobina Fathi 5 , Kimia Vakili 5 , Gholam-Reza Mahmoudiasl 6 7 , Hojjat Allah Abbaszadeh 7 8 , Meysam Hassani Moghaddam 9 , Mohammad-Amin Abdollahifar 8 10 , Abbas Aliaghaei 8 10
Affiliations
- PMID: 34100287
- DOI: 10.1021/acschemneuro.1c00111
Abstract
The recent coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has adversely affected people worldwide. A growing body of literature suggests the neurological complications and manifestations in response to COVID-19 infection. Herein, we explored the inflammatory and immune responses in the post-mortem cerebral cortex of patients with severe COVID-19. The participants comprised three patients diagnosed with severe COVID-19 from March 26, 2020, to April 17, 2020, and three control patients. Our findings demonstrated a surge in the number of reactive astrocytes and activated microglia, as well as low levels of glutathione along with the upregulation of inflammation- and immune-related genes IL1B, IL6, IFITM, MX1, and OAS2 in the COVID-19 group. Overall, the data imply that oxidative stress may invoke a glial-mediated neuroinflammation, which ultimately leads to neuronal cell death in the cerebral cortex of COVID-19 patients.
Keywords: COVID-19; cerebral cortex; neuroinflammation; oxidative stress.