ReviewFrontiers in cellular neuroscience2023
Alteration of the blood-brain barrier by COVID-19 and its implication in the permeation of drugs into the brain.
Review in Frontiers in cellular neuroscience, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 44 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neurological Manifestations of SARS-CoV-2.Viruses · 2025Pooled it
- Possible temporal relationship between SARS-CoV-2 infection and anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis: a meta-analysis.Translational psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Review
- Systems biology of Alzheimer's Disease: a scoping review of key pathways and mechanisms.Molecular neurodegeneration · 2026Article
- Admission Serum Inflammatory and Injury Biomarkers Are Associated with In-Hospital Mortality in Neurological Inpatients with Confirmed SARS-CoV-2 Infection: The Brain-COVID Cohort Study.Current issues in molecular biology · 2026Article
- Redox-Dependent Activation of Matrix Metalloproteinases Regulates Influenza A Virus Replication in Neuronal Cells.International journal of microbiology · 2026Article
- 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
- Updates on cancer vaccines in brain cancer: Advances in neuroblastoma, delivery systems, and emerging technologies.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2025Review
- Bloodstream Infection-induced Neuroinflammation: from Systemic Infection To Brain Invasion.Current microbiology · 2025Review
- Exploring Alice in Wonderland syndrome in adults with persistent headache after COVID-19: a cross-sectional study in Latin America.BMC neurology · 2025Article
- Brain-targeted autoimmunity is strongly associated with Long COVID and its chronic fatigue syndrome as well as its affective symptoms.Journal of advanced research · 2025Article
- Immunomodulatory Mechanisms Underlying Neurological Manifestations in Long COVID: Implications for Immune-Mediated Neurodegeneration.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- The Molecular Mechanisms of Cognitive Dysfunction in Long COVID: A Narrative Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Breaking the Barrier: The Role of Proinflammatory Cytokines in BBB Dysfunction.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Acute Schizophrenia-like Psychotic Disorder Against the Background of COVID-19.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Observational
- Viruses and the Brain-A Relationship Prone to Trouble.Viruses · 2025Review
- A data-mining analysis of host solute carrier family proteins in SARS-CoV-2 infection with reference to brain endothelial cells and the blood-brain barrier in COVID-19.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
- Elimination of olfactory sensory neurons by zinc sulfate inoculation prevents SARS-CoV-2 infection of the brain in K18-hACE2 transgenic mice.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Promising Strategies to Reduce the SARS-CoV-2 Amyloid Deposition in the Brain and Prevent COVID-19-Exacerbated Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Emerging Perspectives on Prime Editor Delivery to the Brain.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Diverse neurological symptoms have been reported in patients with SARS-CoV-2 disease (COVID-19), including stroke, ataxia, meningitis, encephalitis, and cognitive impairment. These alterations can cause serious sequelae or death and are associated with the entry of SARS-CoV-2 into the Central Nervous System (CNS). This mini-review discusses the main proposed mechanisms by which SARS-CoV-2 interacts with the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and its involvement in the passage of drugs into the CNS. We performed a search in PubMed with the terms "COVID-19" or "SARS-CoV-2" and "blood-brain barrier injury" or "brain injury" from the year 2019 to 2022. We found proposed evidence that SARS-CoV-2 infects neurovascular cells and increases BBB permeability by increasing the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 that degrades type IV collagen in the basement membrane and through activating RhoA, which induces restructuring of the cytoskeleton and alters the integrity of the barrier. The breakdown of the BBB triggers a severe inflammatory response, causing the cytokine storm (release of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, etc.) characteristic of the severe phase of COVID-19, which includes the recruitment of macrophages and lymphocytes and the activation of astrocytes and microglia. We conclude that the increased permeability of the BBB would allow the passage of drugs that would not reach the brain in a normal physiological state, thus enhancing certain drugs' beneficial or adverse effects. We hope this article will encourage research on the impact of drugs on patients with COVID-19 and recovered patients with sequelae, focusing mainly on possible dose adjustments and changes in pharmacokinetic parameters.
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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.