Nanotubes may provide a cunning answer to the mystery of how the virus that causes COVID infects neurons and produces long-lasting neurological symptoms
As familiar to everyone as the COVID-causing coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has become over the past two years, feverish research is still trying to parse a lingering puzzle. How, in fact, does the pandemic virus that has so changed the world cross over into the brain after entering the respiratory system? An answer is important because neurological complaints are some of the most common in the constellation of symptoms called long COVID.
The virus may be capable of commandeering a cell’s own nanotubes, diverting them away from other routine tasks, such as transferring lipids and proteins between cells. Early research on SARS-CoV-2 suggested that it might be able to hijack similar cell projections. A 2020 paper published in the journal Cell found that cells infected with the novel coronavirus extended out antennalike feelers called filopodia with viral particles onboard.
The team then used cutting-edge microscopy techniques to image how this viral transfer occurred. By tagging viral proteins with antibodies and fluorescent compounds so that they stood out, the researchers captured high-resolution images of the virus within the tunneling nanotubes that connected the cells. They could see both viral particles and little sacs called vesicles in which the virus copies itself.
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