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Researchers have just discovered a process in fruit flies which links inflammation with impaired motor function, providing researchers with a potential target for treating the persistent muscle fatigue that follows many infections.
Of long COVID's numerous symptoms, an intolerance to exertion could be considered one of the more debilitating.
"This is more than a lack of motivation to move because we don't feel well," says Washington University developmental biologist Aaron Johnson. "These processes reduce energy levels in skeletal muscle, decreasing the capacity to move and function normally."
With every new infection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, our risk of experiencing long COVID increases. Almost 18 million adult Americans have now faced this lingering malaise and its exhausting physical symptoms.
Many of these symptoms are familiar, including the frustrating loss of energy that hits around half of all long COVID sufferers. Muscle fatigue is also present in other post-viral conditions, as well as in people suffering from neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
The thing all these conditions have in common is inflammation of our central nervous system. Chemical markers associated with brain injuries have also been identified in COVID patients.
So Washington University developmental biologist Shuo Yang and colleagues used animal models to explore how inflamed neurons can lead to malfunctioning muscles. They identified a signaling pathway between the brain cells and muscles in both flies and mice that leads that leads to a loss of muscle function.
"Flies and mice that had COVID-associated proteins in the brain showed reduced motor function – the flies didn't climb as well as they should have, and the mice didn't run as well or as much as control mice," explains Johnson.
www.sciencealert.com
Of long COVID's numerous symptoms, an intolerance to exertion could be considered one of the more debilitating.
"This is more than a lack of motivation to move because we don't feel well," says Washington University developmental biologist Aaron Johnson. "These processes reduce energy levels in skeletal muscle, decreasing the capacity to move and function normally."
With every new infection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, our risk of experiencing long COVID increases. Almost 18 million adult Americans have now faced this lingering malaise and its exhausting physical symptoms.
Many of these symptoms are familiar, including the frustrating loss of energy that hits around half of all long COVID sufferers. Muscle fatigue is also present in other post-viral conditions, as well as in people suffering from neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
The thing all these conditions have in common is inflammation of our central nervous system. Chemical markers associated with brain injuries have also been identified in COVID patients.
So Washington University developmental biologist Shuo Yang and colleagues used animal models to explore how inflamed neurons can lead to malfunctioning muscles. They identified a signaling pathway between the brain cells and muscles in both flies and mice that leads that leads to a loss of muscle function.
"Flies and mice that had COVID-associated proteins in the brain showed reduced motor function – the flies didn't climb as well as they should have, and the mice didn't run as well or as much as control mice," explains Johnson.
We May Have Found a Target For Treating The Fatigue of Long COVID
Researchers have just discovered a process in fruit flies which links inflammation with impaired motor function, providing researchers with a potential target for treating the persistent muscle fatigue that follows many infections.
www.sciencealert.com
