Fig. 1.

SARS-CoV-2 in postmortem samples. SARS-CoV-2 E and N2 genes were detected in some, but not all, postmortem nervous tissue samples from COVID-19 patients. Relative expression of N2 (A- Brain/olfactory epithelium and C- Lung) and E (B- brain/olfactory epithelium and D-lung). Fold change (2ˆΔΔCT) was normalized by the expression of β-actin. E-J:SARS-CoV-2 targets both GFAP⁺ astrocytes and TUJ1⁺ neurons in the olfactory nervous tissue. Immunohistochemistry staining of the Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 (green), GFAP⁺ cells (red), TUJ1⁺ cells (grey), and cell nuclei (Hoechst; blue) in postmortem nervous tissue samples collected from the olfactory epithelium of patients who died due to COVID-19. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)