Long COVID Linked to Dopamine Neuron Loss in Brain Scans — SkimNews
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- CAMH researchers used PET scans to compare long COVID patients with healthy participants and found substantially lower levels of a dopamine neuron marker across all major areas of the striatum, suggesting a reduced density of dopamine nerve terminals
- Dr. Jeffrey Meyer, Senior Scientist at CAMH's Brain Health Imaging Centre and Canada Research Chair, published the findings in eBioMedicine and called them the strongest evidence so far that long COVID damages dopamine-releasing neurons
- Regional striatal patterns tracked specific symptoms: lower ventral striatum marker levels correlated with greater loss of motivation, dorsal putamen reductions with slower movement, and caudate putamen reductions with memory difficulties
- The new findings build on the same team's earlier research showing unusually high brain inflammation in regions containing dopamine-releasing neurons, pointing to inflammation as a likely mechanism for the neuronal injury
- Long COVID affects an estimated 5% of the global population — roughly 2 million people in Canada — and currently has no evidence-based treatments, which the researchers say their findings could help change
- A clinical trial targeting dopamine function in long COVID patients is planned to begin in the coming months, conducted in collaboration with University Health Network, to test whether boosting dopamine activity improves memory, motivation, and fatigue
- Susan Deuville, a lived experience research advisor to Dr. Meyer, said she has spent five years seeking answers after contracting COVID in 2021 and called the research a validation that 'long COVID is real and the effects are devastating'
Why it matters: By reframing long COVID as partly a disorder of the brain's dopamine system, the study gives drug developers a concrete target — the researchers specifically point to repurposing existing dopamine precursors and metabolism inhibitors rather than building new drugs from scratch, with a clinical trial launching within months.
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