Glial and microvascular vessels reactive changes in brain neocortex of patients with a new coronavirus disease

Brain damage against the background of a new coronavirus disease is characterized by a wide range of clinical and morphological manifestations: from cognitive impairment to massive strokes. However, the response of glia and the microvascular changes in the cerebral cortex in asymptomatic CNS lesions against the background of COVID-19 have not been studied enough.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: to analyze the glial-vascular reaction of the brain of patients with COVID-19.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: In the course of the study, a comparative characteristic of reactive changes in the glial and vascular components of the brain tissue of patients who died of heart failure (n=5) and patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and died of respiratory failure (n=10) was performed.

RESULTS. In patients with COVID-19, the expression of the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein marker in the cytoplasm of neurons was detected. The glial-microvascular reaction was characterized by reactive astrocytes proliferation and hypertrophy, reactive microglial cells proliferation with an increase in the proportion of intermediate and activated morphotypes and changes in the capillaries and arterioles.

CONCLUSION. Reactive changes in astrocytes and microglial cells indicated neurodegenerative processes in the brain of patients infected with a new strain of coronavirus, which, in combination with pathology of the microvasculature, can cause further progression of central nervous system damage against the background of COVID-19.

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