Uonce once the Covid alarm passed, a second alert immediately appeared, this time, due to a particular effect caused in those who had been infected and recovered from the virus. Obviously we are talking about Long Covid syndromea consequence that is estimated to have affected at least 65 million people worldwide to date.
Long Covid, a new study on the causes
Among the many researches that have tried to find a reason behind this disorder that causes excessive fatigue and which compromises the abilities to carry out daily activities for several months or yearsthere is one created by a group of scientists and researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, and recently published in the journal Cell, which has greatly interested specialists.
Low serotonin levels
In fact, scholars have found that at the center of the syndrome defined as a “debilitating multisystem post-infection condition”, there would be unusually low levels of serotonin. This molecule, which has earned its reputation as a good mood hormone, It acts as a neurotransmitter and hormone, in fact, and is present in many tissues including the brain, gastrointestinal tract, lungs, kidneys and platelets.
According to a US study, Long Covid would be triggered by too low levels of serotonin. (Getty Images)
As is known he has the ability to perform a key role in the modulation of mood, sleep and appetite, but also on other factors, which is why serotonin levels that are too low or too high can cause physical and psychological health problems. Its lack can play, for example, a role in depression.
The experiment
For their study the American researchers they analyzed the blood of 58 patients who had suffered from Long Covid for a period between 3 and 22 months after infection. He then compared the results with those of 30 people who had no post-Covid symptoms and another 60 patients who were in the initial and acute phase of the infection. Basically, it turned out that serotonin levels dropped with the onset of the coronavirus infection, as always happens in the case of other infections, in people with Long Covid they had not returned to pre-infection levelsthe only molecule to remain below the norm.
On the study pros and cons
If for some the answer may be “intriguing and surprising”However, other researchers note that the study, which is based primarily on experiments on mice, leaves several questions open. Serotonin, for example, was reduced only in the animals’ blood, not in their brains, complicating potential explanations for how the molecule exerts neurocognitive effects. It is also unclear how well the team’s animal experiments replicate the symptoms of Long Covid experienced by humans.
Doors open to the explanation of Long Covid
That said, scientists point out how much It is important to remember that the syndrome manifests itself in different ways, so a low serotonin level could probably define one of these ways. Further work will certainly be needed to know how this might cause cognitive impairment, given that the connection remains unclear at the moment.
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