Zika virus might also damage brain cells in adults
The recent study has proved that the Zika virus might also damage brain cells in adults. The affected adult neurons are those used to replace lost and damaged neurons in adult brains which are highly important when learning.
Until now, the focus of the Zika virus was only on how it affects the fetal brain development and on how pregnant women should avoid getting infected by canceling their visits to areas where the virus was installed.
The study that was conducted on mice was the first one to analyze the effects that the virus has on the adult brain. As the finding reveal, getting infected with the Zika virus might not be as harmless as people believe. The infection with the mosquito-borne Zika virus may injure adult brain cells.
However, more studies must be conducted to find out how this damage on adult brain cells has long-term biological implications or how it can potentially affect a person’s behavior.
Sujan Shresta, a professor at the La Jolla Institute of Allergy and Immunology believes that it is a certainty that the virus can enter the brain cells of the adult and have a destructive effect.
Researchers focused on the early forms of brain cells that go on to become neurons, called neural progenitor cells and often considered them the stem cells of the brain. By attacking these neural progenitor cells in children, Zika causes microcephaly which leads to babies being born with unusually small heads, brain damage, and disabilities.
Adult brains also contain some of the niches of these neural progenitor cells which fill up neurons in parts of the brain linked to learning and memory.
By using fluorescent biomarkers in mice, researchers saw that the adult neural progenitor cells were vulnerable to the Zika infection and were killed by the virus. It is still unclear what could be the effect the virus has on the adult human brain over time.
During previous studies, researchers proved that the key to the brain’s ability to adapt and change is integrating new neurons into learning and memory circuits. Without this process, the cognitive evolution declines and could lead to Alzheimer’s disease or other similar conditions.
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