A group of scientists believes the coronavirus can affect our brains. In fact, they are so convinced they published their findings in Nature on March 7, 2022 while still in the final stages of editing. Our first reaction was could COVID-19 make changes to the brain really? And then we took a closer look and realized it could.
What the Researchers Learned About COVID and the Brain
The team investigated the brain scans of 785 patients aged 51 to 81. Of them, 481 had COVID infections between two scans, the rest were the control group. In headline terms they found the following evidence COVID-19 could make changes to the brain. We use the word ‘could’ because this was not always the case:
1… Below-average grey matter thickness and tissue-contrast in the orbitofrontal cortex and para-hippocampal gyrus.
2… The orbitofrontal cortex affects sensory areas, emotion and memory. While the latter plays an important part in memory coding.
3… There was more tissue damage than usual in regions related to the primary olfactory cortex involved in the sense of smell.
4… Individual global brain size was more reduced than they expected. This measure has a moderate correlation with intelligence.
Impact of These COVID-19-Related Changes to the Brain
The researchers conclude as follows: ‘These mainly limbic brain imaging results may be living hallmarks. They may reflect a degenerative spread of the disease via olfactory pathways, and neuro-inflammatory events.
‘There could also be loss of sensory input due to anosmia relating to smell. Whether this harmful impact can be partially reversed, or whether these effects will persist in the long term, remains to be investigated with additional follow up.’
The brain scans were taken during the original virus and alpha variant phases of the pandemic. Losses of taste and smell were less prevalent with later variants. The changes the researchers found were subtle, and the patients may have been completely unaware.
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