Figure - PMC

Skip to main content

An official website of the United States government

Here's how you know

Here's how you know

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

View full-text article in PMC

. 2022 May 3;16:867825. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.867825

Search in PMC
Search in PubMed
View in NLM Catalog
Add to search

Copyright © 2022 Silva, Patricio, Patricio-Martínez, Santos-López, Cedillo, Tizabi and Limón.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

PMC Copyright notice

Mechanisms suggested through which SARS-CoV-2 invades the nervous system. (A) Transcribrial neuroinvasive route; SARS-CoV-2 may invade the brain through the olfactory nerve, and via cranial nerves. (B) Route ocular surface; multiple cell types of the visual system are suggested provide as potential entry points for SARS-CoV-2 invasion to the brain. (C) Hematogenous neuroinvasive route; SARS-CoV-2 possibly infects vascular endothelial cells via the ACE2 and TMPRSS2 receptors. Viral particles can reach the brain through the BBB by infecting and replicating inside brain microvascular endothelial cells. Moreover, SARS-CoV-2 infection can cause excessive peripheral immune responses to result in BBB dysfunction via cytokine storm.