Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Jan 12;13(1):131.
doi: 10.3390/brainsci13010131.

Effects of COVID-19 on Synaptic and Neuronal Degeneration

Mohammed S Alqahtani  1   2 , Mohamed Abbas  3   4 , Mohammad Y Alshahrani  5 , Khulud Alabdullh  6 , Amjad Alqarni  1 , Fawaz F Alqahtani  7 , Layal K Jambi  8 , Adnan Alkhayat  9
Affiliations
Review

Effects of COVID-19 on Synaptic and Neuronal Degeneration

Mohammed S Alqahtani et al. Brain Sci. .

Abstract

Neurons are the basic building blocks of the human body's neurological system. Atrophy is defined by the disintegration of the connections between cells that enable them to communicate. Peripheral neuropathy and demyelinating disorders, as well as cerebrovascular illnesses and central nervous system (CNS) inflammatory diseases, have all been linked to brain damage, including Parkinson's disease (PD). It turns out that these diseases have a direct impact on brain atrophy. However, it may take some time after the onset of one of these diseases for this atrophy to be clearly diagnosed. With the emergence of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, there were several clinical observations of COVID-19 patients. Among those observations is that the virus can cause any of the diseases that can lead to brain atrophy. Here we shed light on the research that tracked the relationship of these diseases to the COVID-19 virus. The importance of this review is that it is the first to link the relationship between the Coronavirus and diseases that cause brain atrophy. It also indicates the indirect role of the virus in dystrophy.

Keywords: CNS inflammatory diseases; COVID-19; Parkinson’s disease; brain atrophy; cerebrovascular diseases; demyelinating disorders; peripheral neuropathy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A schematic diagram of COVID-19 effects brain shrinkage.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Common diseases that cause brain atrophy.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Neurological symptoms of COVID-19.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Neurologic major complications of COVID-19.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Verma K., Amitabh Prasad D.N., Kumar B., Kohli E. Brain and COVID-19 Crosstalk: Pathophysiological and Psychological Manifestations. ACS Chem. Neurosci. 2020;11:3194–3203. doi: 10.1021/acschemneuro.0c00446. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Li Z., Liu T., Yang N., Han D., Mi X., Li Y., Liu K., Vuylsteke A., Xiang H., Guo X. Neurological manifestations of patients with COVID-19: Potential routes of SARS-CoV-2 neuroinvasion from the periphery to the brain. Front. Med. 2020;14:533–541. doi: 10.1007/s11684-020-0786-5. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dixon L., Varley J.A., Gontsarova A., Mallon D., Tona F., Muir D.A., Luqmani A., Jenkins I.H., Nicholas R.S., Jones B., et al. COVID-19-related acute necrotizing encephalopathy with brain stem involvement in a patient with aplastic anemia. Neurol. Neuroimmunol. Neuroinflammation. 2020;7:e789. doi: 10.1212/NXI.0000000000000789. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Coolen T., Lolli V., Sadeghi N., Rovai A., Trotta N., Taccone F.S., Creteur J., Henrard S., Goffard J., Dewitte O., et al. Early postmortem brain MRI findings in COVID-19 non-survivors. Neurology. 2020;95:e2016-27. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000010116. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gandhi S., Srivastava A.K., Ray U., Tripathi P.P. Is the Collapse of the Respiratory Center in the Brain Responsible for Respiratory Breakdown in COVID-19 Patients? ACS Chem. Neurosci. 2020;11:1379–1381. doi: 10.1021/acschemneuro.0c00217. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources