SARS-CoV-2 Virus Impact on Oligodendrocytes
Increasing evidence indicates that SARS-CoV-2 virus infection is a
definite risk factor for demyelination in both the peripheral and
central nervous systems. This notion is supported by the description of
a COVID-19 patient who was hospitalized for interstitial pneumonia and
seizures and then described by Zanin et al. Damage to the demyelin
sheath was detected recently, according to a brain MRI. However,
high-dose steroid therapy triggered repair in the neurological and
respiratory systems. They suggested that a SARS-CoV-2-induced delayed
immune response was what led to the degeneration of the myelin sheath
(55).
Mehta et al. discovered demyelinating lesions linked to neurological
impairment in a COVID-19 case in a different study. The patient’s brain
and spine MRIs revealed multiple demyelinating lesions that had recently
developed but were not enhancing. They postulated that glial cell
activation and subsequent demyelination during SARS-CoV-2 infection
would be due to the pro-inflammatory environment caused by the cytokine
storm (56). Likewise, encephalomyelitis was reported by Zoghi et al. in
a male patient, age 21, who had upper respiratory symptoms two weeks
before to this presentation and intermittent vomiting for four days.
Brain MRI revealed bilateral posterior internal capsule lesions
extending to the ventral part of the pons as well as a marbled splenium
hyperintensity pattern. A substantial transverse myelitis was discovered
throughout their research using thoracic and cervical MRI (57).
Gilles et al. reported a 54-year-old woman who had been exposed to
SARS-CoV-2 and had brain lesions that indicated acute demyelination. The
pallidum and supratentorial white matter on both sides of the patient’s
brain were afflicted by hypodense lesions, according to the patient’s
brain CT scan. Confined diffusion lesions were seen on an MRI of the
brain, but there was no bleeding or amplification. Unaffected areas
included the striatum, posterior fossa, and thalamus. A follow-up MRI
revealed no new abnormalities, and the spinal cord MRI was normal (58).
Furthermore, two other studies (59, 60) presented demyelination in
patients afflicted with COVID-19; MRI in both studies presented that the
corpus callosum and the pericallosal white matter were where the
majority of the myelin destruction foci and a concentric demyelination
pattern and the presence of hemosiderin deposits together. Given such
evidence, SARS-CoV-2 virus is able to cause demyelination in sundry
ways.