Colombo, D;
Falasca, L;
Marchioni, L;
Tammaro, A;
Adebanjo, GAR;
Ippolito, G;
Zumla, A;
... Del Nonno, F; + view all
(2021)
Neuropathology and Inflammatory Cell Characterization in 10 Autoptic COVID-19 Brains.
Cells
, 10
(9)
, Article 2262. 10.3390/cells10092262.
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Abstract
COVID-19 presents with a wide range of clinical neurological manifestations. It has been recognized that SARS-CoV-2 infection affects both the central and peripheral nervous system, leading to smell and taste disturbances; acute ischemic and hemorrhagic cerebrovascular disease; encephalopathies and seizures; and causes most surviving patients to have long lasting neurological symptoms. Despite this, typical neuropathological features associated with the infection have still not been identified. Studies of post-mortem examinations of the cerebral cortex are obtained with difficulty due to laboratory safety concerns. In addition, they represent cases with different neurological symptoms, age or comorbidities, thus a larger number of brain autoptic data from multiple institutions would be crucial. Histopathological findings described here are aimed to increase the current knowledge on neuropathology of COVID-19 patients. We report post-mortem neuropathological findings of ten COVID-19 patients. A wide range of neuropathological lesions were seen. The cerebral cortex of all patients showed vascular changes, hyperemia of the meninges and perivascular inflammation in the cerebral parenchyma with hypoxic neuronal injury. Perivascular lymphocytic inflammation of predominantly CD8-positive T cells mixed with CD68-positive macrophages, targeting the disrupted vascular wall in the cerebral cortex, cerebellum and pons were seen. Our findings support recent reports highlighting a role of microvascular injury in COVID-19 neurological manifestations.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Neuropathology and Inflammatory Cell Characterization in 10 Autoptic COVID-19 Brains |
| Location: | Switzerland |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3390/cells10092262 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.3390/cells10092262 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2021 MDPI. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, brain autopsy, microvascular injury, neuropathology |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Div of Infection and Immunity |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10134537 |
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