Zika could damage adult brain cells

A growing body of research has established that the virus can cause severe birth defects – most notably microcephaly, a condition characterized by an abnormally small head and often incomplete brain development.

The virus is chiefly spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is common throughout the tropical and subtropical Americas.

Scientists at the Rockefeller University and the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology infected adult mice with Zika and watched the virus zero in on and damage cells that are important in their brains to memory and learning, much in the same way researchers have documented how it attacks and kills cells critical to fetal brain development. Gleeson is an adjunct professor who studies brain disorders at The Rockefeller University in New York City. In a healthy person, the cells eventually become fully formed neurons.

The neural stem cells that are the focus of the new study are precursors – cells with the potential to generate specialized cells called neurons and glia that make up the nervous system.

This visual abstract shows the findings of Li et al., that peripheral ZIKV exposure in a mouse model can infect adult neural stem cells in the brain, leading to cell death and reduced proliferation. Most people infected show no obvious symptoms while others may experience flu-like effects, such as fever, headache and joint pain.

The researchers recognized that healthy humans may be able to mount an effective immune response and prevent the virus from attacking.

In March, Brazilian officials reported two blood transfusion-related Zika infections, and in Puerto Rico, Zika detected in blood center screening in June was one of the early markers for a rapid rise in disease activity.

The findings would likely apply to children as well as adults, because they have more of these cells, Dr. Shresta said.

They used fluorescent tags to show where the bug invaded brain cells.

“We are going to learn about Zika whether we wanted or not because there’s going to be more cases, there’s going to be more widespread”. “The manuscript does not report any behavioral adjustment in infected mice, and it is unclear if the Zika infection persist on the adult brain for long periods”.

The researchers added that Hofbauer cells are thought to migrate around the placenta, which could facilitate passing the virus to the fetal brain. While scientists knew Zika could be transmitted from mother to fetus, it was unclear how the virus does so.

“Any long term effect on infected adults would be highly speculative at this point”, he said. These results suggest that placental macrophages could be susceptible to Zika infection and indicate that further studies are warranted to determine the contribution of placental macrophages in maternal-fetal Zika transmission. She said the more we learn about Zika, the more serious the situation is becoming. Shresta said she and her colleagues are planning to carry out those follow-up studies. “Given this study, I think the public health enterprise should consider monitoring for Zika infections in all groups, not just pregnant women”, Gleeson said. She said microcephaly is clearly the most devastating effect of the virus seen today.