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Deuter D, Hense K, Kunkel K, Vollmayr J, Schachinger S, Wendl C, Schicho A, Fellner C, Salzberger B, Hitzenbichler F, Zeller J, Vielsmeier V, Dodoo-Schittko F, Schmidt NO, Rosengarth K. SARS-CoV2 evokes structural brain changes resulting in declined executive function. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0298837. [PMID: 38470899 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0298837] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2022] [Accepted: 01/30/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Several research has underlined the multi-system character of COVID-19. Though effects on the Central Nervous System are mainly discussed as disease-specific affections due to the virus' neurotropism, no comprehensive disease model of COVID-19 exists on a neurofunctional base by now. We aimed to investigate neuroplastic grey- and white matter changes related to COVID-19 and to link these changes to neurocognitive testings leading towards a multi-dimensional disease model. METHODS Groups of acutely ill COVID-19 patients (n = 16), recovered COVID-19 patients (n = 21) and healthy controls (n = 13) were prospectively included into this study. MR-imaging included T1-weighted sequences for analysis of grey matter using voxel-based morphometry and diffusion-weighted sequences to investigate white matter tracts using probabilistic tractography. Comprehensive neurocognitive testing for verbal and non-verbal domains was performed. RESULTS Alterations strongly focused on grey matter of the frontal-basal ganglia-thalamus network and temporal areas, as well as fiber tracts connecting these areas. In acute COVID-19 patients, a decline of grey matter volume was found with an accompanying diminution of white matter tracts. A decline in executive function and especially verbal fluency was found in acute patients, partially persisting in recovered. CONCLUSION Changes in gray matter volume and white matter tracts included mainly areas involved in networks of executive control and language. Deeper understanding of these alterations is necessary especially with respect to long-term impairments, often referred to as 'Post-COVID'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Deuter
- Klinik und Poliklinik für Neurochirurgie, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Katharina Hense
- Klinik und Poliklinik für Neurochirurgie, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Kevin Kunkel
- Klinik und Poliklinik für Neurochirurgie, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Johanna Vollmayr
- Klinik und Poliklinik für Neurochirurgie, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Sebastian Schachinger
- Klinik und Poliklinik für Neurochirurgie, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Christina Wendl
- Institut für Röntgendiagnostik, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
- Institut für Neuroradiologie, Medbo Bezirksklinikum Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Andreas Schicho
- Institut für Röntgendiagnostik, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Claudia Fellner
- Institut für Röntgendiagnostik, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Bernd Salzberger
- Abteilung für Krankenhaushygiene und Infektiologie, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Florian Hitzenbichler
- Abteilung für Krankenhaushygiene und Infektiologie, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Judith Zeller
- Klinik und Poliklinik für Innere Medizin II, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Veronika Vielsmeier
- Klinik und Poliklinik für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Frank Dodoo-Schittko
- Institut für Sozialmedizin und Gesundheitsforschung, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Nils Ole Schmidt
- Klinik und Poliklinik für Neurochirurgie, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Katharina Rosengarth
- Klinik und Poliklinik für Neurochirurgie, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
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Hassan L, Ahsan Z, Bint E Riaz H. An Unusual Case of Blackout in a COVID-19 Patient: COVID-19 Brain Fog. Cureus 2023; 15:e36273. [PMID: 37073192 PMCID: PMC10105897 DOI: 10.7759/cureus.36273] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/16/2023] [Indexed: 03/19/2023] Open
Abstract
This case report highlights a unique case of brain fog in a COVID-19 patient suggesting COVID-19's neurotropic nature. COVID-19 is associated with a long-COVID syndrome that presents with cognitive decline and fatigue. Recent studies show the emergence of a novel syndrome known as post-acute COVID syndrome or long COVID, which constitutes a variety of symptoms that continue for four weeks following the onset of a COVID-19 diagnosis. Numerous post-COVID patients experience both short and long-lasting symptoms affecting several organs, including the brain, which includes being unconscious, bradyphrenia, or amnesia. This long COVID status comprises of "brain fog", which, coupled with neuro-cognitive effects, has a significant role in prolonging the recovery phase. The pathogenesis of brain fog is currently unknown. One of the leading causes might be the involvement of neuroinflammation due to mast cells stimulated by pathogenic and stress stimuli. This in turn, triggers the release of mediators that activate microglia, causing inflammation in the hypothalamus. Its ability to invade the nervous system through trans-neural or hematogenous mechanisms is possibly the chief cause behind the presenting symptoms. This case report highlights a unique case of brain fog in a COVID-19 patient suggesting COVID-19's neurotropic nature and how it may lead to neurologic complications such as meningitis, encephalitis, and Guillain-Barré syndrome.
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Goldstein Ferber S, Shoval G, Zalsman G, Weller A. Does COVID-19 related symptomatology indicate a transdiagnostic neuropsychiatric disorder? - Multidisciplinary implications. World J Psychiatry 2022; 12:1004-1015. [PMID: 36158308 PMCID: PMC9476837 DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v12.i8.1004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2022] [Revised: 04/28/2022] [Accepted: 07/25/2022] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
The clinical presentation that emerges from the extensive coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mental health literature suggests high correlations among many conventional psychiatric diagnoses. Arguments against the use of multiple comorbidities for a single patient have been published long before the pandemic. Concurrently, diagnostic recommendations for use of transdiagnostic considerations for improved treatment have been also published in recent years. In this review, we pose the question of whether a transdiagnostic mental health disease, including psychiatric and neuropsychiatric symptomology, has emerged since the onset of the pandemic. There are many attempts to identify a syndrome related to the pandemic, but none of the validated scales is able to capture the entire psychiatric and neuropsychiatric clinical presentation in infected and non-infected individuals. These scales also only marginally touch the issue of etiology and prevalence. We suggest a working hypothesis termed Complex Stress Reaction Syndrome (CSRS) representing a global psychiatric reaction to the pandemic situation in the general population (Type A) and a neuropsychiatric reaction in infected individuals (Type B) which relates to neurocognitive and psychiatric features which are part (excluding systemic and metabolic dysfunctions) of the syndrome termed in the literature as long COVID. We base our propositions on multidisciplinary scientific data regarding mental health during the global pandemic situation and the effects of viral infection reviewed from Google Scholar and PubMed between February 1, 2022 and March 10, 2022. Search in-clusion criteria were “mental health”, “COVID-19” and “Long COVID”, English language and human studies only. We suggest that this more comprehensive way of understanding COVID-19 complex mental health reactions may promote better prevention and treatment and serve to guide implementation of recommended administrative regulations that were recently published by the World Psychiatric Association. This review may serve as a call for an international investigation of our working hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sari Goldstein Ferber
- Department of Psychology and Gonda Brain Research Center, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5317000, Israel
| | - Gal Shoval
- Department of Psychiatry, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
- Department of Neuroscience, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, United States
| | - Gil Zalsman
- Department of Psychiatry, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, United States
| | - Aron Weller
- Department of Psychology and Gonda Brain Research Center, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5317000, Israel
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Finsterer J, Matovu D, Fiorini AC, Scorza FA. Consider cerebral tuberculosis as differential of SARS-CoV-2-associated acute, haemorrhagic, necrotising encephalitis. THE EGYPTIAN JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY, PSYCHIATRY AND NEUROSURGERY 2022; 58:66. [PMID: 35677886 PMCID: PMC9164179 DOI: 10.1186/s41983-022-00506-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2021] [Accepted: 05/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
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Löscher W, Howe CL. Molecular Mechanisms in the Genesis of Seizures and Epilepsy Associated With Viral Infection. Front Mol Neurosci 2022; 15:870868. [PMID: 35615063 PMCID: PMC9125338 DOI: 10.3389/fnmol.2022.870868] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2022] [Accepted: 04/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Seizures are a common presenting symptom during viral infections of the central nervous system (CNS) and can occur during the initial phase of infection ("early" or acute symptomatic seizures), after recovery ("late" or spontaneous seizures, indicating the development of acquired epilepsy), or both. The development of acute and delayed seizures may have shared as well as unique pathogenic mechanisms and prognostic implications. Based on an extensive review of the literature, we present an overview of viruses that are associated with early and late seizures in humans. We then describe potential pathophysiologic mechanisms underlying ictogenesis and epileptogenesis, including routes of neuroinvasion, viral control and clearance, systemic inflammation, alterations of the blood-brain barrier, neuroinflammation, and inflammation-induced molecular reorganization of synapses and neural circuits. We provide clinical and animal model findings to highlight commonalities and differences in these processes across various neurotropic or neuropathogenic viruses, including herpesviruses, SARS-CoV-2, flaviviruses, and picornaviruses. In addition, we extensively review the literature regarding Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV). This picornavirus, although not pathogenic for humans, is possibly the best-characterized model for understanding the molecular mechanisms that drive seizures, epilepsy, and hippocampal damage during viral infection. An enhanced understanding of these mechanisms derived from the TMEV model may lead to novel therapeutic interventions that interfere with ictogenesis and epileptogenesis, even within non-infectious contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wolfgang Löscher
- Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmacy, University of Veterinary Medicine, Hannover, Germany,Center for Systems Neuroscience, Hannover, Germany,*Correspondence: Wolfgang Löscher,
| | - Charles L. Howe
- Division of Experimental Neurology, Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, United States,Center for Multiple Sclerosis and Autoimmune Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, United States
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Schoene D, Schnekenberg LG, Pallesen LP, Barlinn J, Puetz V, Barlinn K, Siepmann T. Pathophysiology of Cardiac Injury in COVID-19 Patients with Acute Ischaemic Stroke: What Do We Know So Far?-A Review of the Current Literature. LIFE (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2022; 12:life12010075. [PMID: 35054468 PMCID: PMC8778241 DOI: 10.3390/life12010075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2021] [Revised: 12/22/2021] [Accepted: 12/30/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it became apparent that, in addition to pulmonary infection, extrapulmonary manifestations such as cardiac injury and acute cerebrovascular events are frequent in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, worsening clinical outcome. We reviewed the current literature on the pathophysiology of cardiac injury and its association with acute ischaemic stroke. Several hypotheses on heart and brain axis pathology in the context of stroke related to COVID-19 were identified. Taken together, a combination of disease-related coagulopathy and systemic inflammation might cause endothelial damage and microvascular thrombosis, which in turn leads to structural myocardial damage. Cardiac complications of this damage such as tachyarrhythmia, myocardial infarction or cardiomyopathy, together with changes in hemodynamics and the coagulation system, may play a causal role in the increased stroke risk observed in COVID-19 patients. These hypotheses are supported by a growing body of evidence, but further research is necessary to fully understand the underlying pathophysiology and allow for the design of cardioprotective and neuroprotective strategies in this at risk population.
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Yang H, Fan Y, Zhu Z, Wu H, Chen Z, Hu X, Wu T, Zhang M. Strategies for the Emergency Treatment of Pregnant Women with Neurological Symptoms during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Aging Dis 2022; 14:290-298. [PMID: 37008058 PMCID: PMC10017149 DOI: 10.14336/ad.2022.0718] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2022] [Accepted: 07/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) has been spreading all over the world for more than two years. Though several kinds of vaccines are currently available, emergence of new variants, spike mutations and immune escape have raised new challenges. Pregnant women are vulnerable to respiratory infections due to their altered immune defence and surveillance functions. Besides, whether pregnant persons should receive a COVID-19 vaccine is still under debate because limited data are available on the efficacy and safety of receiving a vaccine during pregnancy. Physiological features and lack of effective protection making pregnant women at high risk of getting infected. Another concern is that pregnancy may trigger the onset of underlying existing neurological disease, which is highly similar to those neurological symptoms of pregnant women caused by COVID-19. These similarities interfere with diagnosis and delay timely and effective management. Therefore, providing efficient emergency support for pregnant women suffering from neurological symptoms caused by COVID-19 remains a challenge among neurologists and obstetricians. To improve the diagnosis and treatment efficiency of pregnant women with neurological symptoms, we propose an emergency management framework based on the clinicians' experience and available resources. This emergency care system aimed at addressing the conundrums faced by the emergency guarantee system under COVID-19 pandemic and could serve as a potential multisystem project for clinical practice and medical education.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haojun Yang
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Yishu Fan
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Ziqing Zhu
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Haiyue Wu
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Zhuohui Chen
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Xinhang Hu
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Tong Wu
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Mengqi Zhang
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
- Correspondence should be addressed to: Dr. Mengqi Zhang, Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China. .
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