TY  - JOUR
AU  - Meinhardt, Jenny
AU  - Radke, Josefine
AU  - Dittmayer, Carsten
AU  - Franz, Jonas
AU  - Thomas, Carolina
AU  - Mothes, Ronja
AU  - Laue, Michael
AU  - Schneider, Julia
AU  - Brünink, Sebastian
AU  - Greuel, Selina
AU  - Lehmann, Malte
AU  - Hassan, Olga
AU  - Aschman, Tom
AU  - Schumann, Elisa
AU  - Chua, Robert Lorenz
AU  - Conrad, Christian
AU  - Eils, Roland
AU  - Stenzel, Werner
AU  - Windgassen, Marc
AU  - Rößler, Larissa
AU  - Goebel, Hans-Hilmar
AU  - Gelderblom, Hans R
AU  - Martin, Hubert
AU  - Nitsche, Andreas
AU  - Schulz-Schaeffer, Walter J
AU  - Hakroush, Samy
AU  - Winkler, Martin S
AU  - Tampe, Björn
AU  - Scheibe, Franziska
AU  - Körtvélyessy, Péter
AU  - Reinhold, Dirk
AU  - Siegmund, Britta
AU  - Kühl, Anja A
AU  - Elezkurtaj, Sefer
AU  - Horst, David
AU  - Oesterhelweg, Lars
AU  - Tsokos, Michael
AU  - Ingold-Heppner, Barbara
AU  - Stadelmann, Christine
AU  - Drosten, Christian
AU  - Corman, Victor
AU  - Radbruch, Helena
AU  - Heppner, Frank
TI  - Olfactory transmucosal SARS-CoV-2 invasion as a port of central nervous system entry in individuals with COVID-19.
JO  - Nature neuroscience
VL  - 24
IS  - 2
SN  - 1546-1726
CY  - New York, NY
PB  - Nature America
M1  - DZNE-2021-00990
SP  - 168 - 175
PY  - 2021
AB  - The newly identified severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes COVID-19, a pandemic respiratory disease. Moreover, thromboembolic events throughout the body, including in the CNS, have been described. Given the neurological symptoms observed in a large majority of individuals with COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 penetrance of the CNS is likely. By various means, we demonstrate the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA and protein in anatomically distinct regions of the nasopharynx and brain. Furthermore, we describe the morphological changes associated with infection such as thromboembolic ischemic infarction of the CNS and present evidence of SARS-CoV-2 neurotropism. SARS-CoV-2 can enter the nervous system by crossing the neural-mucosal interface in olfactory mucosa, exploiting the close vicinity of olfactory mucosal, endothelial and nervous tissue, including delicate olfactory and sensory nerve endings. Subsequently, SARS-CoV-2 appears to follow neuroanatomical structures, penetrating defined neuroanatomical areas including the primary respiratory and cardiovascular control center in the medulla oblongata.
KW  - Brain: virology
KW  - COVID-19: virology
KW  - Central Nervous System
KW  - Humans
KW  - Olfactory Mucosa: virology
KW  - RNA, Viral: genetics
KW  - SARS-CoV-2: pathogenicity
KW  - Smell: physiology
KW  - Virus Internalization
KW  - RNA, Viral (NLM Chemicals)
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:33257876
DO  - DOI:10.1038/s41593-020-00758-5
UR  - https://pub.dzne.de/record/155830
ER  -