ArticleThe Journal of general virology2024
SARS-CoV-2 infects neurons, astrocytes, choroid plexus epithelial cells and pericytes of the human central nervous system
Article in The Journal of general virology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed.
- SARS-CoV-2 disrupts the integrity of a human blood-brain barrier model in the absence of infection.Journal of neurovirology · 2026Article
- Beyond the neuron: the role of glial cells in viral neuropathogenesis.Journal of virology · 2026Review
- Identifying GFAP-expressing cell susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection using human iPSC-derived neural cells.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Synergy of SARS-CoV-2 and HIV-1 Infections in the Human Brain.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Cerebral Arterial Stiffness Dynamics During Acute Stage of Severe Traumatic Brain Injury.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 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
- 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
- SARS-CoV-2-induced damage to rat cortical neuronal networks ex vivo is mediated by the pro-inflammatory activation of the cGAS-STING pathway.Journal of neurovirology · 2025Article
- Chronic Neuroplasticity Changes Following Neurotropic Viral Infection: Mechanisms and Implications.Cellular and molecular neurobiology · 2025Review
- Comprehensive mapping of the signaling events evoked by SARS-CoV-2 variants delta and omicron in human astrocytes.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- SARS-CoV-2 Infection Influences Wnt/β-Catenin Pathway Components in Astrocytes.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Neurovascular pericytes are susceptible to infection by JC polyomavirus.Journal of virology · 2025Article
- The Effect of Neurorehabilitation of the Cognitive Symptoms of Long COVID Evaluated with Neuropsi Atención y Memoria-III and BANFE-III.Biomedicines · 2025Article
- Neuroimmune pathophysiology of long COVID.Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2025Review
- SARS-Cov-2 Replication in a Blood-Brain Barrier Model Established with Human Brain Microvascular Endothelial Cells Induces Permeability and Disables ACE2-Dependent Regulation of Bradykinin B1 Receptor.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- SARS-CoV-2 and neurotropism: evidence, gaps and reflections.Journal of medical microbiology · 2025Article
- Innate immune sensors and regulators at the blood brain barrier: focus on toll-like receptors and inflammasomes as mediators of neuro-immune crosstalk and inflammation.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2025Review
- Mortality for Alzheimer's disease during the COVID-19 pandemic.European geriatric medicine · 2025Article
- Viruses and the Brain-A Relationship Prone to Trouble.Viruses · 2025Review
- NLRP3 inflammasome activation in astrocytes restricts SARS-CoV-2 through gasdermin-D-driven IL-1β release.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is associated with neurological sequelae including haemorrhage, thrombosis and ischaemic necrosis and encephalitis. However, the mechanism by which this occurs is unclear. Neurological disease associated with COVID-19 has been proposed to occur following direct infection of the central nervous system and/or indirectly by local or systemic immune activation. We evaluated the expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 and transmembrane protease, serine 2 (TMPRSS2) in brain tissue from five healthy human donors and observed low-level expression of these proteins in cells morphologically consistent with astrocytes, neurons and choroidal ependymal cells within the frontal cortex and medulla oblongata. Primary human astrocytes, neurons, choroid plexus epithelial cells and pericytes supported productive SARS-CoV-2 infection with ancestral, Alpha, Delta and Omicron variants. Infected cells supported the full viral life cycle, releasing infectious virus particles. In contrast, primary brain microvascular endothelial cells and microglia were refractory to SARS-CoV-2 infection. These data support a model whereby SARS-CoV-2 can infect human brain cells, and the mechanism of viral entry warrants further investigation.
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