Long COVID linked to lasting damage in brain's dopamine system

Canadian researchers have discovered that Long COVID can cause lasting damage to the brain's dopamine system. A study published in eBioMedicine utilized positron emission tomography (PET) scans to analyze the brains of adults experiencing neurological symptoms such as persistent apathy and depression.

The findings reveal that individuals with Long COVID have approximately 18 percent fewer dopamine nerve endings in the striatum compared to healthy individuals. This loss of dopamine-signaling nerves is linked to specific impairments: loss in the ventral striatum is associated with decreased motivation, loss in the putamen is tied to slower movement and task completion, and loss in the caudate nucleus is connected to memory decline and word-finding difficulties.

These measurable changes were detectable in patients who had been living with Long COVID for up to 4.6 years. Experts noted that the study is significant because it translates the "clinically elusive neuropsychiatric phenotype of long COVID into a measurable dopaminergic signal."