Neurotropic viruses, astrocytes, and COVID-19Tavčar Verdev, Petra (Avtor) Potokar, Maja (Avtor) Kolenc, Marko (Avtor) Korva, Miša (Avtor) Avšič-Županc, Tatjana (Avtor) Zorec, Robert (Avtor) Jorgačevski, Jernej (Avtor) neurotropic virusflavivirusCOVID-19SARS-CoV-2neuroinfectionastrocyteAt the end of 2019, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV- 2) was discovered in China, causing a new coronavirus disease, termed COVID-19 by the WHO on February 11, 2020. At the time of this paper (January 31, 2021), more than 100 million cases have been recorded, which have claimed over 2 million lives worldwide. The most important clinical presentation of COVID-19 is severe pneumonia; however, many patients present various neurological symptoms, ranging from loss of olfaction, nausea, dizziness, and headache to encephalopathy and stroke, with a high prevalence of inflammatory central nervous system (CNS) syndromes. SARS-CoV-2 may also target the respiratory center in the brainstem and cause silent hypoxemia. However, the neurotropic mechanism(s) by which SARS-CoV-2 affects the CNS remain(s) unclear. In this paper, we first address the involvement of astrocytes in COVID-19 and then elucidate the present knowledge on SARS-CoV-2 as a neurotropic virus as well as several other neurotropic flaviviruses (with a particular emphasis on the West Nile virus, tick-borne encephalitis virus, and Zika virus) to highlight the neurotropic mechanisms that target astroglial cells in the CNS. These key homeostasis-providing cells in the CNS exhibit many functions that act as a favorable milieu for virus replication and possibly a favorable environment for SARS-CoV-2 as well. The role of astrocytes in COVID- 19 pathology, related to aging and neurodegenerative disorders, and environmental factors, is discussed. Understanding these mechanisms is key to better understanding the pathophysiology of COVID-19 and for developing new strategies to mitigate the neurotropic manifestations of COVID-19.20212023-03-07 13:43:06Članek v reviji144668UDK: 616.9ISSN pri članku: 1662-5102DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2021.662578COBISS_ID: 58875651sl