ArticleJournal of neuroinflammation2023
Differential effects of SARS-CoV-2 variants on central nervous system cells and blood-brain barrier functions.
Article in Journal of neuroinflammation, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 53 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neurological Manifestations of SARS-CoV-2.Viruses · 2025Pooled it
- SARS-CoV-2 disrupts the integrity of a human blood-brain barrier model in the absence of infection.Journal of neurovirology · 2026Article
- Synergy of SARS-CoV-2 and HIV-1 Infections in the Human Brain.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Anti-SARS-CoV-2 VHH and C7C peptide fused with Angiopep-2 efficiently traverse blood-brain barrier model and neutralizes virus.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- SARS-CoV-2-induced damage to rat cortical neuronal networks ex vivo is mediated by the pro-inflammatory activation of the cGAS-STING pathway.Journal of neurovirology · 2025Article
- Dengue virus NS1 protein does not activate TLR4 and has a modest effect on endothelial monolayer integrity compared to TNF.PLoS pathogens · 2025Article
- Comprehensive mapping of the signaling events evoked by SARS-CoV-2 variants delta and omicron in human astrocytes.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Disease-disease interactions: molecular links of neurodegenerative diseases with cancer, viral infections, and type 2 diabetes.Translational neurodegeneration · 2025Review
- Neurovascular pericytes are susceptible to infection by JC polyomavirus.Journal of virology · 2025Article
- Immunomodulatory Mechanisms Underlying Neurological Manifestations in Long COVID: Implications for Immune-Mediated Neurodegeneration.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Effects of M. tuberculosis and HIV-1 infection on in vitro blood-brain barrier function.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2025Article
- Article
- A 3D In Vitro Blood-Brain Barrier Model to Study Pathogen and Drug Effects on the BBB.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2025Article
- A data-mining analysis of host solute carrier family proteins in SARS-CoV-2 infection with reference to brain endothelial cells and the blood-brain barrier in COVID-19.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
- Infections withFrontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025Review
- Article
- SARS-CoV-2 infection in microglia and its sequelae: What do we know so far?Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2024Review
- Cross-Section of Neurological Manifestations Among SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Subvariants-Single-Center Study.Brain sciences · 2024Article
- Association of pre-existing depression and anxiety with Omicron variant infection.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Article
- Cerebral small vessel injury in mice with damage to ACE2-expressing cerebral vascular endothelial cells and post COVID-19 patients.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAlthough mainly causing a respiratory syndrome, numerous neurological symptoms have been identified following of SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, how the virus affects the brain and how the mutations carried by the different variants modulate those neurological symptoms remain unclear.
methodsWe used primary human pericytes, foetal astrocytes, endothelial cells and a microglial cell line to investigate the effect of several SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern or interest on their functional activities. Cells and a 3D blood-brain barrier model were infected with the wild-type form of SARS-CoV-2, Alpha, Beta, Delta, Eta, or Omicron (BA.1) variants at various MOI. Cells and supernatant were used to evaluate cell susceptibility to the virus using a microscopic assay as well as effects of infection on (i) cell metabolic activity using a colorimetric MTS assay; (ii) viral cytopathogenicity using the xCELLigence system; (iii) extracellular glutamate concentration by fluorometric assay; and (iv) modulation of blood-brain barrier permeability.
resultsWe demonstrate that productive infection of brain cells is SARS-CoV-2 variant dependent and that all the variants induce stress to CNS cells. The wild-type virus was cytopathic to all cell types except astrocytes, whilst Alpha and Beta variants were only cytopathic for pericytes, and the Omicron variant cytopathic for endothelial cells and pericytes. Lastly wild-type virus increases blood-brain barrier permeability and all variants, except Beta, modulate extracellular glutamate concentration, which can lead to excitotoxicity or altered neurotransmission.
conclusionsThese results suggest that SARS-CoV-2 is neurotropic, with deleterious consequences for the blood-brain barrier integrity and central nervous system cells, which could underlie neurological disorders following SARS-CoV-2 infection.
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What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.