Investigating olfactory dysfunction in COVID-19
November 2021
KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium(1)
Max Planck Research Unit for Neurogenetics, Frankfurt, Germany(2)
Max Planck Research Unit for Neurogenetics, Frankfurt, Germany(2)
This study investigates the mechanisms underlying the loss of smell as a symptom of COVID-19. Therefore, samples of respiratory and olfactory mucosae and whole olfactory bulbs were obtained endoscopically after the death of the patients.
70 COVID-19 patients, including patients that died a few days after infection during the replication phase of the virus, and 15 control cases were included in the study. RNA of tissue sections was investigated via in-situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry was performed for codetection of proteins. Moreover, whole-transcriptome profiling was done. No evidence for infection of olfactory sensory neurons and the tissue of the olfactory bulb was found.
Thus, SARS-CoV-2 does not appear to be a neurotropic virus and it is postulated that a transient insufficient support from infected sustentacular cells triggers olfactory dysfunction in COVID-19. This may yield strategies for therapeutic interventions for olfactory dysfunction in COVID-19.
Visualizing in deceased COVID-19 patients how SARS-CoV-2 attacks the respiratory and olfactory mucosae but spares the olfactory bulb
Laura Van Gerven(1), Peter Mombaerts(2)
Added on: 01-06-2023
[1] https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(21)01282-4
