Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of the SARS-CoV-2 Virus: Targeting the CNS and Post-COVID-19 Challenge

Dear Colleagues,

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been debate about whether SARS-CoV-2 was capable of entering the CNS and causing neurological symptoms, triggering or promoting pre-existing neurological disease, or remaining dormant in the brain, turning the organ into a viral reservoir. The route of entry to the CNS constitutes an interesting area of investigation, analyzing whether the virus enters the CNS by infecting endothelial or epithelial cells of the blood–brain barrier by spreading from nearby areas or via axonal transport after infecting neurons in the peripheral nervous system. Another topic of debate is the frequency of neurological symptoms or pathologies associated with acute CNS infection, such as stroke and neuromuscular involvement, as well as whether it can facilitate age-related transcriptomic or molecular changes. Finally, there is more scientific evidence every day regarding the so-called persistent COVID-19 or post-COVID-19 syndrome, characterized by the presence of symptoms that persist for 3 months after acute infection, with special emphasis on cognitive symptoms and fatigue.

This Special Issue seeks to highlight the role of these mechanisms on patients with CNS and PNS disorders prior to infection. Likewise, it would be interesting to determine whether vaccination has played a role in these mechanisms.

This Special Issue aims to promote studies and articles on the role of SARS-CoV-2 in the CNS and PNS, as well as its mechanisms and consequences, and aims to generate debate among researchers about acute and chronic effects on the CNS and SNPs. This work comes at an important point in the pandemic when the WHO and world governments have already relaxed their main control measures for the spread of disease. However, we are now challenged to understand the bases and mechanisms underlying the persistence of COVID-19, whereby a better knowledge of the consequences of the virus can contribute to how infected patients are treated.

Dr. Ulises Gomez‐Pinedo
Dr. Jorge Matias-Guiu
Guest Editors

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• post-COVID syndrome
• COVID-19
• central nervous system
• SARS-CoV-2
• neurological diseases