SARS-CoV-2 infection causes transient olfactory dysfunction in mice

ABSTRACT: SARS-CoV-2 infection causes a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations in human, and olfactory dysfunction represents as one of the most predictive and common symptoms in COVID-19 patients. However, the underlying mechanism how SARS-CoV-2 infection leads to olfactory disorders remains elusive. Herein we demonstrate intranasal inoculation of SARS-CoV-2 induces robust viral replication in the olfactory epithelium (OE), not olfactory bulb (OB), resulting in transient olfactory dysfunction in humanized ACE2 mice. The sustentacular cells and Bowman's gland cells in the OE were identified as the major target cells of SARS-CoV-2 before the invasion into olfactory sensory neurons. Remarkably, SARS-CoV-2 infection triggers massive cell death and immune cell infiltration, and directly impairs the uniformity of OE structure. Combined transcriptomic and quantitative proteomic analyses reveal the induction of antiviral and inflammatory responses, as well as the downregulation of olfactory receptor (OR) genes in the OE from the infected animals. Overall, our mouse model recapitulates the olfactory dysfunction in COVID-19 patients, and provides critical clues to understand the physiological basis for extrapulmonary manifestations of COVID-19.

ORGANISM(S): Mus Musculus

SUBMITTER: Ping Xu  

PROVIDER: PXD026854 | iProX | Tue Jun 22 00:00:00 BST 2021

REPOSITORIES: iProX