AgenciesIn what could help doctors better treat some post-Covid complications, experts at the Gurgaon-based National Brain Research Centre (NBRC) are studying how the coronavirus responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting the brain and which molecular part of the virus is causing a condition called brain fog in people who have got infected.
"We want to know what are the mechanisms affecting or damaging the neurons following exposure to the novel coronavirus," said Pankaj Seth, a professor and scientist at the research centre, which works under the department of biotechnology (DBT).
The centre has sourced some brain sections of people who died due to Covid, from the brain bank of Nimhans in Bengaluru for the research work. While researchers have so far understood that SARS CoV-2 is more than a respiratory virus, they have further split up their study to understand which components of the virus is causing damage to the neurons and if it is causing the damage, what are the mechanisms by which it is damaging the nerve cells.
"The research team at our lab is trying to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms for SARS CoV-2 proteins that mediate damage to neuronal cells," Seth added. The centre has received a funding of ₹75 lakh from the DBT recently and has started the work in the cell culture model of human cells.
The researchers are validating their findings with the post-mortem brain sections of people who died due to Covid-19. "We don't know what component of the virus is causing the damage. So, we took different components of the virus, including virus proteins in neuronal cultures, and study each one of them," Seth explained.
Seth said the conclusions of the study, which they are expecting by the end of this year, would hopefully help doctors better treat patients with long Covid.
He said the virus can't be imaged by MRI, CT scan or X-ray, so they joined hands with Nimhans (the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences).
"We want to know what are the mechanisms affecting or damaging the neurons following exposure to the novel coronavirus," said Pankaj Seth, a professor and scientist at the research centre, which works under the department of biotechnology (DBT).
The centre has sourced some brain sections of people who died due to Covid, from the brain bank of Nimhans in Bengaluru for the research work. While researchers have so far understood that SARS CoV-2 is more than a respiratory virus, they have further split up their study to understand which components of the virus is causing damage to the neurons and if it is causing the damage, what are the mechanisms by which it is damaging the nerve cells.
"The research team at our lab is trying to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms for SARS CoV-2 proteins that mediate damage to neuronal cells," Seth added. The centre has received a funding of ₹75 lakh from the DBT recently and has started the work in the cell culture model of human cells.
The researchers are validating their findings with the post-mortem brain sections of people who died due to Covid-19. "We don't know what component of the virus is causing the damage. So, we took different components of the virus, including virus proteins in neuronal cultures, and study each one of them," Seth explained.
Seth said the conclusions of the study, which they are expecting by the end of this year, would hopefully help doctors better treat patients with long Covid.
He said the virus can't be imaged by MRI, CT scan or X-ray, so they joined hands with Nimhans (the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences).
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