Changes in the gene activity inside the brains of severe COVID-19 patients are “strikingly similar” to those seen in people of old age, a new study suggests.
Published this week in Nature Aging, the study focused on genes that are expressed in the frontal cortex, a region in the brain critically responsible for cognition. Age-related deficits in cognitive function have long been attributed to changes within this region.
For the study, a research team led by neurologist Maria Mavrikaki at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center of Harvard Medical School examined frontal cortex tissue samples taken from 21 patients who died of severe COVID-19, as well as one patient who died of asymptomatic COVID-19 infection….