Neurological diseases caused by coronavirus infection of the respiratory airways

Abstract

Infections of the central nervous system (CNS) infections are critical problems for public health. They are caused by several different organisms, including the respiratory coronaviruses (CoVs). CoVs usually infect the upper respiratory tract causing the common cold. However, in infants, and in elderly and immunocompromised persons, they can also affect the lower respiratory tract causing pneumonia and various syndromes of respiratory distress. CoVs also have neuroinvasive capabilities because they can spread from the respiratory tract to the CNS. Once infection begins in the CNS cells, it can cause various CNS problems such as status epilepticus, encephalitis, and long‐term neurological disease. This neuroinvasive properties of CoVs may damage the CNS as a result of misdirected host immune response, which could be associated with autoimmunity in susceptible individuals (virus‐induced neuro‐immunopathology) or associated with viral replication directly causing damage to the CNS cells (virus‐induced neuropathology). In December 2019, a new disease named COVID‐19 emerged which is caused by CoVs. The significant clinical symptoms of COVID‐19 are related to the respiratory system, but they can also affect the CNS, causing acute cerebrovascular and intracranial infections. We describe the possible invasion routes of coronavirus in this review article, and look for the most recent findings associated with the neurological complications in the recently published literature.

SARS-CoV-2 and Brain Health: New Challenges in the Era of the Pandemic

“…Encephalitis is defined as inflammation of the brain parenchyma resulting from infections, which include neuronal destruction and nerve cell injury. The observation of viral encephalitis in many individuals who have contracted SARS-CoV-2 has led to speculation over the potential existence of this neurological consequence [153][154][155][156][157]. The presence of SARS-CoV-2 within the CSF of patients infected with COVID-19 was confirmed by the medical team working at Beijing Ditan Hospital using genome sequencing.…”

Engineered Extracellular Vesicles for Drug Delivery in Therapy of Stroke

“…Plasmid transfection can be accomplished through electroporation or incubation with transfection reagents [ 117 ]. Therefore, EVs have modulated the expression of genes in human disease models, both in vitro and in vivo, by incorporating functional proteins, mRNAs, microRNAs (miRNAs), and other short noncoding RNAs [ 119 , 145 ]. The direct modulation technique has been implemented in manipulating isolated EVs to incorporate small drug molecules and for encapsulating proteins and small amounts of non-coding RNA within EVs ( Figure 8 ) [ 106 , 146 , 147 , 148 ].…”

Advances in the study of nervous system infections in COVID‐19

“…The prognosis for neurological involvement is poor. Therefore, in patients with COVID-19, in addition to respiratory symptoms, physicians should pay close attention to neurological manifestations [40][41][42].…”