ArticleFrontiers in neurology2020
The Spatial and Cell-Type Distribution of SARS-CoV-2 Receptor ACE2 in the Human and Mouse Brains.
Article in Frontiers in neurology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 354 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
354 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 535 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neurological manifestations of COVID-19: a systematic review and detailed comprehension.The International journal of neuroscience · 2023Pooled it
- A systematic review on impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection.Microbiological research · 2023Pooled it
- Long term outcomes of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in post covid condition: longitudinal follow-up of a randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Co-ultramicronized palmitoylethanolamide/luteolin normalizes GABAClinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2023Trial
- Loss of vesicular monoamine transporter 2 in striatum of long COVID and relationship to neuropsychiatric symptoms.EBioMedicine · 2026Article
- Intersection of COVID-19 and Alzheimer's Disease: Genetic Insights and Neuropathological Consequences.Biochemical genetics · 2026Review
- Review
- Angiotensin-(1-7) suppresses pyroptosis in cerebral endothelium to decrease blood-brain barrier permeability and cognitive impairments in sepsis.The Journal of international medical research · 2026Article
- Infection of 5xFAD mice with a mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2 does not alter Alzheimer's disease neuropathology yet induces widespread changes in gene expression across diverse cell types.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- SARS-CoV-2 infection in brain tumors and the association with alterations in the tumor immune microenvironment.Cancer biology & medicine · 2026Article
- Review
- Mechanisms and impact of long COVID: pathophysiology, neuropsychiatric effects and vaccination.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- From HIV to SARS-CoV-2 associated neurological disorder ("HAND" to "SAND"): Viral infection as a "time-bomb" for the aging brain.Neuroscience applied · 2026Review
- The role of the caudate nucleus in taste function: a comprehensive narrative review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- Infection of 5xFAD mice with a mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2 does not alter Alzheimer's disease neuropathology yet induces wide-spread changes in gene expression across diverse cell types.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- SARS-CoV-2 infection in hiPSC-derived neurons is cathepsin-dependent and causes differential accumulation of HIF1ɑ and phosphorylated tau.Molecular therapy. Nucleic acids · 2025Article
- ACE2: Friend or Foe in Post-COVID-19 Neurodegeneration?International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- SARS-CoV-2 spike triggers TLR7-dependent endolysosome dysfunction and senescence in human astrocytes.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2025Article
- Beyond synapses: cytoplasmic connections in brain function and evolution.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2025Review
- A survey of SARS-CoV-2 tropism.Infectious diseases & immunity · 2025Review
294 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
By engaging angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2 or Ace2), the novel pathogenic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) invades host cells and affects many organs, including the brain. However, the distribution of ACE2 in the brain is still obscure. Here, we investigated the ACE2 expression in the brain by analyzing data from publicly available brain transcriptome databases. According to our spatial distribution analysis, ACE2 was relatively highly expressed in some brain locations, such as the choroid plexus and paraventricular nuclei of the thalamus. According to cell-type distribution analysis, nuclear expression of ACE2 was found in many neurons (both excitatory and inhibitory neurons) and some non-neuron cells (mainly astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and endothelial cells) in the human middle temporal gyrus and posterior cingulate cortex. A few ACE2-expressing nuclei were found in a hippocampal dataset, and none were detected in the prefrontal cortex. Except for the additional high expression of Ace2 in the olfactory bulb areas for spatial distribution as well as in the pericytes and endothelial cells for cell-type distribution, the distribution of Ace2 in the mouse brain was similar to that in the human brain. Thus, our results reveal an outline of ACE2/Ace2 distribution in the human and mouse brains, which indicates that the brain infection of SARS-CoV-2 may be capable of inducing central nervous system symptoms in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Potential species differences should be considered when using mouse models to study the neurological effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.