This is How COVID-19 Affects Multiple-Organs in a Mice

COVID-19 affects different aspects of humanity. For so long, people have been adhering to the government's safety protocol to prevent the virus's further spread.

As of December 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports about 66 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, alongside about 1 million deaths of patients positive for the disease.

A Journal published in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) reports the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic in daily life and fields like Healthcare, Economy, and Society.

ALSO READ: Can COVID-19 Affect the Heart?

COVID-19 and Other Medical Conditions

(Photo : geralt)
Researchers: energy-generating pathways of cells in the heart was shut off by the SARS-CoV-2 causing problems

The terror COVID-19 is causing did not finish on the respiratory system of individuals it has been affecting, but the disease seems to affect other organs in the body. Patients were reporting other medical conditions that are hypothesized to branch out from COVID-19, such as Acute Kidney Failure (AKI), which was mentioned by a comprehensive report in National Kidney Foundation, and heart concerns as reported by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

Now, researchers were able to discover how COVID-19 impacts organs other than the lungs.

In a report by the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), member of Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA, and co-senior author of the study, Arjun Deb, MD, said that understanding how the virus can mess with the cells can lead to novel ways of preventing and treating organ failures that can accompany COVID-19.

Eureka Alert mentioned that the researchers utilized a mouse as the model to observe how the virus damages the organs. However, they also mentioned that using mouse models in translating human health conditions can be tricky.

Other Studies

A 2020 study published in NCBI reports that COVID-19 has multiorgan failure as its company in severe patients. They also add that involvement of different organs among severe COVID-19 patients is causing a longer stay of the patients in the hospitals and an increased mortality rate.

Methods and Results of the study

UCLA notes that utilizing the mouse as a model. The researchers discover SARS-CoV-2 can shut down energy production in cells of the heart, spleen, kidneys, and other organs.

Eureka Alert adds that the results were made possible through mice's engineering to have the human version of ACE2 in the heart and other vital organs. They also note that since the virus in humans affects other vital organs through the bloodstream, half of the mice receive SARS-CoV-2.

After seven days, researchers note in the report by UCLA that the mice who were infected lost weight have altered levels of immune cells, swelling of the heart tissue, and wasting away of the spleen, which according to them, was observed among severe COVID-19 patients.

The research team also mentions in Eureka Alert that genes and molecular processes that help in the regeneration of the cell's energy are turned off in the heart, kidney, lungs, and spleen.

Dr. Deb stresses in the release that if the virus turns the energy-generating pathways off found in multiple organs of the body, then that will cause trouble. This only means that the shutting off the energy pathways are the cause of why multiple organ failures occur in COVID-19 patients.

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