"Our data suggest that severe cases of SARS-CoV-2 may limit the function of the vagus nerve and lead to a critical progression," said Prof. Dr. Markus Glatzel, Director of the Institute of Neuropathology at UKE. The vagus nerve supplies the heart, lungs, upper digestive tract, chest and abdomen. The study examined patients including deceased with different courses of COVID-19. The pathogen was detected in the vagus nerve of those who had died, and the amount of virus correlated with the inflammatory response in the nerve. Other patients with a damaged nerve had a reduced respiratory rate.
UKE proves connection between severe disease progression and functional disorders of the autonomic nervous system
Severe courses of Covid-19 frequently lead to disturbances of the autonomic nervous system, researchers at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) have found. Until now, researchers had suspected a disturbance of the autonomic nervous system in acute cases of Long Covid, but had not been able to verify it. Researchers examined 323 patients and 33 decedents for the study published in the Acta Neuropathologica periodical.
Severe COVID-19 may cause vagus nerve dysfunction
More neurotransmitter interferon
"Remarkably, coronavirus in the nerve led to a sharp increase in the neurotransmitter interferon, which is believed ed to be a major contributor to autonomic nervous system damage," said Dr. Marcel S. Woo of UKE's Institute of Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis and author of the study.
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