SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant causes brain infection with lymphoid depletion in a mouse COVID-19 model.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The Omicron variant has become the most prevalent SARS-CoV-2 variant. Omicron is known to induce milder lesions compared to the original Wuhan strain. Fatal infection of the Wuhan strain into the brain has been well documented in COVID-19 mouse models and human COVID-19 cases, but apparent infections into the brain by Omicron have not been reported in human adult cases or animal models. In this study, we investigated whether Omicron could spread to the brain using K18-hACE2 mice susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Results

K18-hACE2 mice were intranasally infected with 1 × 10⁵ PFU of the original Wuhan strain and the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2. A follow-up was conducted 7 days post infection. All Wuhan-infected mice showed > 20% body weight loss, def

SUBMITTER: Lee NY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10169124 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature