SynthesisActa neuropathologica communications2023
SARS-Cov-2 infection and neuropathological findings: a report of 18 cases and review of the literature.
Synthesis in Acta neuropathologica communications, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Immunization with MVA-based vaccines protects K18-hACE2 mice from SARS-CoV-2 infection-associated inflammatory lesions in brains.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- An Autopsied Case of Chronic Lymphocytic Inflammation with Pontine Perivascular Enhancement Responsive to Steroids for Over Four Years.Internal medicine (Tokyo, Japan) · 2025Article
- Post-infectious autoimmune disorder involving the CNS and PNS following SARS-CoV-2 infection - a clinical-morphological case report.Neurological research and practice · 2025Article
- Article
- SARS-CoV-2 infection of human cortical cells is influenced by the interaction between aneuploidy and biological sex: insights from a Down syndrome in vitro model.Acta neuropathologica · 2025Article
- APOE genotype confers context-dependent neurovascular vulnerability in immune-vascularized human forebrain organoids.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Cerebromicrovascular mechanisms contributing to long COVID: implications for neurocognitive health.GeroScience · 2025Review
- Virus-induced brain pathology and the neuroinflammation-inflammation continuum: the neurochemists view.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2024Review
- Phase Separation of SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid Protein with TDP-43 Is Dependent on C-Terminus Domains.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Cerebellar encephalitis and peripheral neuropathy with an atypical clinical and neuroimaging signature following Covid-19 vaccine: a report of two cases.Journal of neurology · 2024Article
- Neuropathological findings in Down syndrome, Alzheimer's disease and control patients with and without SARS-COV-2: preliminary findings.Acta neuropathologica · 2024Article
- Microglia at the blood brain barrier in health and disease.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2024Review
- HIV and COVID-19: two pandemics with significant (but different) central nervous system complications.Free neuropathology · 2024Article
- COVID-19: detection methods in post-mortem samples.Pathologica · 2023Review
- Neuropathology in COVID-19 autopsies is defined by microglial activation and lesions of the white matter with emphasis in cerebellar and brain stem areas.Frontiers in neurology · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
17 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionCOVID-19-infected patients harbour neurological symptoms such as stroke and anosmia, leading to the hypothesis that there is direct invasion of the central nervous system (CNS) by SARS-CoV-2. Several studies have reported the neuropathological examination of brain samples from patients who died from COVID-19. However, there is still sparse evidence of virus replication in the human brain, suggesting that neurologic symptoms could be related to mechanisms other than CNS infection by the virus. Our objective was to provide an extensive review of the literature on the neuropathological findings of postmortem brain samples from patients who died from COVID-19 and to report our own experience with 18 postmortem brain samples. MATERIAL AND
methodsWe used microscopic examination, immunohistochemistry (using two different antibodies) and PCR-based techniques to describe the neuropathological findings and the presence of SARS-CoV-2 virus in postmortem brain samples. For comparison, similar techniques (IHC and PCR) were applied to the lung tissue samples for each patient from our cohort. The systematic literature review was conducted from the beginning of the pandemic in 2019 until June 1st, 2022.
resultsIn our cohort, the most common neuropathological findings were perivascular haemosiderin-laden macrophages and hypoxic-ischaemic changes in neurons, which were found in all cases (n = 18). Only one brain tissue sample harboured SARS-CoV-2 viral spike and nucleocapsid protein expression, while all brain cases harboured SARS-CoV-2 RNA positivity by PCR. A colocalization immunohistochemistry study revealed that SARS-CoV-2 antigens could be located in brain perivascular macrophages. The literature review highlighted that the most frequent neuropathological findings were ischaemic and haemorrhagic lesions, including hypoxic/ischaemic alterations. However, few studies have confirmed the presence of SARS-CoV-2 antigens in brain tissue samples.
conclusionThis study highlighted the lack of specific neuropathological alterations in COVID-19-infected patients. There is still no evidence of neurotropism for SARS-CoV-2 in our cohort or in the literature.
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