Kusuma School of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India.
Elife. 2020 Jul 30;9:e59136. doi: 10.7554/eLife.59136.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 has recently emerged as a serious jolt to human life and economy. Initial knowledge established pulmonary complications as the chief symptom, however, the neurological aspect of the disease is also becoming increasingly evident. Emerging reports of encephalopathies and similar ailments with the detection of the virus in the CSF has elicited an urgent need for investigating the possibility of neuroinvasiveness of the virus, which cannot be ruled out given the expression of low levels of ACE2 receptors in the brain. Sensory impairments of the olfactory and gustatory systems have also been reported in a large proportion of the cases, indicating the involvement of the peripheral nervous system. Hence, the possibility of neurological damage caused by the virus demands immediate attention and investigation of the mechanisms involved, so as to customize the treatment of patients presenting with neurological complications.
由 SARS-CoV-2 引起的 COVID-19 大流行最近对人类生活和经济造成了严重冲击。最初的知识表明，肺部并发症是主要症状，但该疾病的神经学方面也越来越明显。随着病毒在脑脊液中的检测，出现了越来越多的脑病和类似疾病的报告，这就迫切需要研究病毒是否具有神经侵袭性，鉴于大脑中 ACE2 受体水平低，这种可能性不能排除。在很大一部分病例中，嗅觉和味觉系统也出现了感觉障碍，表明外周神经系统也受到了影响。因此，病毒引起的神经损伤的可能性需要立即引起关注，并对相关机制进行研究，以便为出现神经并发症的患者制定个性化的治疗方案。
