For this study, researchers wanted to look at the brains of people who had previously been infected by COVID-19 and reported long COVID symptoms such as depression, fatigue, and brain fog.
The participants underwent brain imagining, and when compared to healthy controls, their brains showed higher levels of translocator protein (TSPO), which indicates inflammation in the brain.
As study co-author and neuroscience expert, Jeffrey H. Meyer, M.D., Ph.D., explains in a news release, “[The] regions of the brain that had the most inflammation are the ones involved in the capacity to enjoy things, motivational energy, and the ability to think and move quickly.”
Meyer has previously conducted pioneering research on the connection between depression and brain inflammation2, finding that depression is linked with 30% more brain inflammation in depressed people on average, compared to brains of people who weren’t depressed.
“Inflammation in the brain was suspected of being the critical step in causing neurological and psychiatric symptoms of long COVID,” Meyer adds, “so confirming this is vital to develop treatments for people experiencing symptoms.”
Going forward, the team hopes their research can help in the development of new treatments for long COVID and brain inflammation, but in the meantime, here’s how to keep inflammatory levels at healthy level.
