Scientists find a shocking link between Covid and Alzheimer
The virus can cause brain inflammation which, in some cases, becomes more serious.
The brain fog that can linger after a fight with Covid is not a new discovery. In fact, many research has linked this long-cook symptom to neuroinflammation which often accompanies an infection. However, scientists now find that these brain lesions could be much more permanent, even leading to an increased risk of Alzheimer's.
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How does Covid cause inflammation in the brain?
A study published last year in the journal Borders in microbiology Identified four ways whose infections coated in the lungs cause inflammation in the brain:
- Activation of an innate immune response: inflammation is a well -known side effect when your body fights a virus
- Disturbance of the blood-brain barrier, which can allow toxins, pathogens and inflammatory cells to enter the brain
- Damage to endothelial cells, those that line blood vessels that play a role in inflammation
- Disturbance of formation and functioning and nerve cells
Like the American Brain Foundation Explain: "Brain cells are directly affected during a neuroinflammatory response, and a person can undergo temporary changes in mental and emotional processes - thinking, concentration, behavior, mood, fatigue, motivation, etc.
They continue: "If inflammation becomes chronic , durable or recurrent for months or years, this can be a serious concern for patients. In chronic inflammation, the immune system can start to attack healthy tissues. »»
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The new research links the inflammation of the brain linked to the cocvid to Alzheimer's disease.
Two new studies provide evidence that cerebral changes associated with COVVID can increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
First, a study published last month in the journal Borders in aging neuroscience have found that the cocvid virus and pneumonia of chlamydia, a bacteria which causes respiratory tract infections, "can predispose sensitive populations" to Alzheimer's disease.
A press release published in Medical news Explains that the two infections increase cytokine levels in the brain.
"Cytokines are proteins that work like chemical messengers in your immune system," notes Cleveland clinic . "Too much cytokines can lead to inflammation and excessive conditions such as autoimmune diseases."
The researchers found that the two infections can invade the central nervous system through the blood-brain barrier, as well as by the olfactory system, which ultimately connects to the brain areas responsible for memory and cognition.
"This path is particularly relevant since loss of odor is an early symptom in COVVI-19 and Alzheimer's disease," the press release said.
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Another study has revealed that COVID can increase the accumulation of plaque in the brain.
The other study, published in Scientific advances , looked at the link between the covored infections and the amyloid plates.
As Medical news Explain that amyloid plates are tufts of the beta-amyloid protein that form in spaces between the nerve cells of the brain: "These abnormally configured proteins are supposed to play a central role in Alzheimer's disease."
To better understand this link, the researchers studied retinal tissues (which lines the back of the eye), because they had previously determined that Alzheimer's patients with an accumulation of amyloid beta in the brain also had an accumulation in the retina. They have also determined that Covid can enter the retinal cells.
In a study review, Xpress Medical Explains: "Human retinal tissues collected from patients with COVID-19, but without any history of dementia also showed higher amyloid beta accumulation than that found in healthy individuals, to a degree similar to what researchers have found in the retinal tissue with Alzheimer's disease."
Main study author Brian Hafler , MD, PH.D., an associate professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the Yale School of Medicine, told Medical Xpress that discovery "strengthens the hypothesis Beta amyloid antimicrobial of brain disease in the innate immune response against viral infections."
