Snapshots in Neuroscience: SARS-CoV-2-infected mouse olfactory epithelium

These images have been selected to showcase the art that neuroscience research can create.

As described by Drs. Martin-Lopez and Greer: Here we present an immunohistochemical preparation of the olfactory epithelium (OE) of an adult K18hACE2 mouse infected with SARS-CoV-2. The OE is the region of the nasal cavity where the olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) are located, surrounded by a network of sustentacular cells (SCs). The OSNs and the SCs are among the first exposed following SARS-CoV-2 infection of the airway. In this work we describe how SARS-CoV-2 infects and triggers inflammation along the entire olfactory pathway.

This image of the OE shows SC expressing cytokeratin-8 (green), OSNs expressing the olfactory marker protein (OMP; magenta), and cells infected with SARS-CoV-2 (red). Nuclei are counterstained with DAPI (blue). The circular structures labeled in magenta along the dorsal septum and continuing bilaterally on the dorsal OE are clusters of OSN axons coalescing to form the olfactory nerve. This section is in a coronal plate and the staining was imaged with a confocal Zeiss LSM800 using a 10X objective.

In this work, we demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 infects scattered SCs and some OE epithelial macrophages without altering the cytoarchitecture of the OE. Not illustrated here, the work also demonstrates SARS-CoV-2 infection of brain olfactory structures and perturbation of myelination.

Coronal section of an adult K18hACE2 mouse olfactory epithelium (OE) infected with SARS-CoV-2. The folded structures on the right and left sides of the image are the nasal turbinates, which are separated along the midline by the septum. This image is a mosaic captured with a confocal Zeiss LSM800 using a 10X objective. Image credit: Eduardo Martin-Lopez.

Read the full article:

Inflammatory Response and Defects on Myelin Integrity in the Olfactory System of K18hACE2 Mice Infected with SARS-CoV-2
Eduardo Martin-Lopez, Bowen Brennan, Tianyang Mao, Natalie Spence, Sarah J. Meller, Kimberly Han, Nawal Yahiaoui, Chelsea Wang, Akiko Iwasaki, and Charles A. Greer