2024-01-19 10:30:27
Do you have the feeling that you are often irritable or sad since your corona infection? This could have something to do with the fact that the virus hijacks happiness hormones and can even stop their production.
American scientists have found that Covid can infect brain cells responsible for mood, stress and movement.
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Corona switches off the happiness hormones
Die Study shows that Covid attacks human cells, damaging dopamine production and causing it to stop. The affected cells can no longer grow.
► The “happiness hormone” dopamine is responsible for, among other things, sleep, concentration, learning movements and memory. The finding would therefore explain why a type of “brain fog” is often described as a corona symptom.
The study found that about five percent of dopamine neurons can be infected by the Covid virus, leading to biological aging (senescence) and inflammation.
“The infection rate of dopamine neurons is not as high as that of lung cells, the main target of the virus, but even a small population of infected cells can have potentially serious effects,” said senior author Dr. Shuibing Chen
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The scientists used cells grown in the lab and confirmed their findings with autopsy samples from Covid-infected people.
According to the study, only dopamine neurons were infected with SARS-CoV-2, causing them to stop working and emit chemical signals that caused inflammation.
► The result is more than unexpected for the researchers. They actually wanted to find out how Covid reacts to different cells. Ultimately, they were only able to determine an influence on dopamine neurons.
The researchers suspect that the results could provide information about neurological symptoms in people with Long Covid.
The team also found that drugs (riluzole, metformin and imatinib) could potentially protect against the coronavirus from infecting dopamine neurons.
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