20.500.12556/RUL-144668 Neurotropic viruses, astrocytes, and COVID-19 At 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. neurotropic virus flavivirus COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 neuroinfection astrocyte nevrotropni virus flavivirus COVID-19 true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Članek v reviji 2023-03-07 13:43:06 2023-03-07 13:43:14 2023-03-08 03:33:18 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2021 0 0 14 str. Vol. 15, art. 662578 2021 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 616.9 1662-5102 10.3389/fncel.2021.662578 58875651 fncel-15-662578.pdf fncel-15-662578.pdf 1 30DA3D0DC0295336269DB7D8A555FCB3 58c71b34ebe6649e6ddc2753a5d36de5c7ce2e8c313f495f530ccaec634c4fd2 d94d2054-bce5-11ed-a314-00155dcfd717 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=167123 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fncel.2021.662578/full 1 9b56424c-bce5-11ed-a314-00155dcfd717 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=167122 Medicinska fakulteta 0 0 0