Ultrastructural examination of lung "cryobiopsies" from a series of fatal COVID-19 cases hardly revealed infected cells.

ABSTRACT: Ultrastructural analysis of autopsy samples from COVID-19 patients usually suffers from significant structural impairment possibly caused by the rather long latency between death of the patient and an appropriate sample fixation. To improve structural preservation of the tissue, we obtained samples from ventilated patients using a trans-bronchial "cryobiopsy" within 30 min after their death and fixed them immediately for electron microscopy. Samples of six COVID-19 patients with a documented histopathology were systematically investigated by thin section electron microscopy. The different samples and areas inspected revealed the ultrastructural correlates of the different phases of diffuse alveolar damage, including detachment of the alveolar epithelium, hyperplasia of type 2 cells, exudat

SUBMITTER: Cortese K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8924574 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature