Reduced serotonin levels may simply be a credible explanation for some of the symptoms experienced with long Covid, according to a recent study from the University of Pennsylvania. If true, this could be just the first step in losing light on the causes and, potentially, remedies for this disease.
In the study published in the journal Cell, the authors analyzed blood samples from 58 Covid-19 patients with symptoms for 3 to 22 months from their infection, and with blood samples from 60 patients in the acute phase of Covid-19 infection. as well as 30 patients without post-Covid-19 symptoms.
The researchers found that the only significant molecule that did not reach pre-infection levels in long Covid patients was serotonin. Here’s why it’s important.
According to the World Health Organization, long Covid occurs as patience or progression of new symptoms 3 months after initial Covid-19 infection, with symptoms lasting at least two months without further explanation. Long Covid can cause a wide variety of symptoms. adding fatigue, memory loss, chest pain, headaches, diarrhea, and joint pain. According to CDC data, 1 in thirteen U. S. adults have long Covid symptoms; this represents up to 1 in five people who have had the Covid-19 virus.
Despite the large number of Americans who have suffered from this debilitating disease, researchers are still trying to understand what actually causes long Covid. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania provide insight into the conceivable mechanisms that could possibly explain the symptoms.
Long Covid patients have viral debris that persists in the gut, where 90% of the body’s serotonin is produced, the researchers explain. The remnants of viruses interfere with the body’s ability to produce serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps send messages between the brain and the body. .
Serotonin is also largely to blame for regulating mood, digestion, sleep, nausea, depression, and memory. Reduced serotonin levels may be just many of the symptoms experienced by long Covid patients, such as memory loss, fatigue, depression, and nausea, to name a few.
Lately, there are no diagnostic tests or imaging tests to diagnose long Covid. If the effects of the aforementioned study are confirmed, blood serotonin values may emerge as a prospective way to diagnose long Covid in patients with symptoms compatible with the disease.
It also means that serotonin values in the lab can simply be used to monitor the disease and assess whether patients are improving with treatments. For example, if a patient’s serotonin values increase over time after starting treatment, the patient will most likely be on the verge of recovery, reinforcing the good luck of new treatments to treat long Covid. To date, there are no laboratory biomarkers to diagnose or track long Covid, making serotonin studies a potentially promising new discovery.
As with testing, there is no express remedy for long Covid lately. Rather, the remedy is based on effectively preventing the transmission of Covid-19 infection itself, which means staying up to date with Covid-19 vaccines.
New studies on serotonin shed light on the option of devising express treatments that may have the sole aim of increasing serotonin in the body, alleviating some of the symptoms of long Covid. Some of those types of drugs already exist, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. , used to treat anxiety and depression.
Medications aimed at increasing serotonin levels can offer effective and personalized treatment functions to the thousands of Americans suffering from a condition for which there is no specific treatment.
Many more studies are still needed to definitively identify serotonin as a very important link in the pathway that could contribute to long Covid. The study published in the journal Cell was a small study and studies in a larger cohort of patients would be needed. to corroborate the findings. What’s more, participants in other long-haul Covid studies have not shown a reduction in serotonin levels, according to a New York Times report.
Despite those limitations, new studies on serotonin provide hope to the huge number of Americans seeking to cure a disease that the clinical network is trying to understand.