Rukman

A mystery about how the novel coronavirus reaches the brain has always puzzled scientists. Studies have shown that Covid is associated with several neurological symptoms. Nanotubes have previously been found to play a role in degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s by facilitating the transport of proteins responsible for these diseases. While several studies since the origin of the Covid pandemic have shown ACE2 serves as a entry gate for the coronavirus to enter lung cells – the main target of the virus – it has remained a mystery how the neurons, which do not express this gateway protein, are infected. The new study shows that the coronavirus could induce the formation of nanotubes between infected cells and neurons as well as among neurons – findings that explain how the brain is infected.