Covid damages the heart and an American study explains how. Oxidative stress, inflammation, heartbeat changes, impaired blood and oxygen pump function to other tissues are some of the effects that Sars-CoV-2 infection has on the “motor organ” of the human machine. They are described by Andrew Marks, a cardiologist and professor of biophysics at Columbia University, and Steven Reiken, a researcher in Marks’ lab, authors along with other colleagues of a study presented in San Diego, California, at 67 the Biophysical Society.
Covid-19 disease can cause life-threatening heart problems, researchers explain. Studies suggest that people with Covid have a 55% higher risk of suffering a major cardiovascular event, such as a heart attack, stroke or death, compared to people who are not infected. They are also more likely to have other heart problems, such as arrhythmias or myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle. Marks’ team therefore attempted to understand the mechanisms underlying these disorders.
The team observed an increase in oxidative stress and inflammatory signals in heart tissue from Covid patients. The researchers also found changes in a protein called RyR2, which is responsible for regulating calcium ion levels in the heart. An element, calcium, that the heart – like all other muscles – needs to contract. In particular, the “calcium pathways” are essential to the heart for the coordinated contraction of the atria and ventricles. When calcium levels become imbalanced, cardiac arrhythmias or heart failure can occur.
To better understand the nature of the “blows” Covid inflicts on the heart, Marks and colleagues used a mouse model infected with Sars-CoV-2. They saw changes in the heart tissue of the rodent suffering from COVID-19, including infiltration of immune cells, accumulation of collagen indicating injury, death of heart cells and formation of blood clots. The researchers also measured how the cardiac proteome, the set of proteins expressed by heart cells, changed, highlighting changes consistent with those seen in human Covid patients, as well as markers of cardiomyopathy that are associated with the Hearts can make it difficult to pump blood to the rest of the body and can therefore cause heart failure.
“The more awareness you gain of the specific mechanisms of a disease, the more likely you are to improve patient care,” says Marks, noting that “clinicians should be aware of and look for the cardiac changes associated with COVID-19 infections .” . With ongoing research, “we really want to understand what causes heart disease” associated with Sars-CoV-2 “and how to fix it.”
Understanding the changes COVID-19 is causing in the heart at the molecular level can point to drug targets that help relieve infection-related heart symptoms and help healthcare professionals more effectively diagnose and treat these problems. Additionally, insight into the heart complications of Covid-19 can help public health officials make more informed decisions about how to respond to the pandemic and target the highest-risk groups.