Thread by @AliNouriPhD

Does #SARSCoV2 increase risk of🧠Parkinson’s Disease (PD)? Recent reports documented PD onset following severe #COVID19 in a 35, 45, & 58 year old. They developed severe motor symptoms; brain imaging revealed reduced function of dopamine system, akin to PD🧵

2. Possible mechanisms include: (a) blood clots and other circulatory problems that occur in some COVID patients could reduce blood flow to brain and to dopamine system or (b) inflammation caused by severe COVID-19 could trigger neuroinflammation and demise of dopamine neurons.

3. Consistent with this, another study looked at brains of COVID19 patients post-mortem and found an inflammatory response response in their brains—the activation of microglia & cytotoxic T cells—which are neuropathological signs that are also associated with Parkison's Disease.

4. Third possibility is that SARS-CoV-2 may invade dopamine neurons, which do express the ACE2 protein—the receptor the virus needs to enter cells. But it isn't clear whether and to what extent SARS-CoV-2 is able to infect brain cells. More studies needed to shed light on this.

5. "While acute parkinsonism in conjunction with COVID-19 appears to be rare, spread of SARS-CoV-2 widely in society might lead to a high proportion of patients being predisposed to developing PD later in life"
sciencedirect.com/science/articl…