Relationship between COVID-19 infection and neurodegeneration: Computational insight into interactions between the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and the monoamine oxidase enzymes
Our docking and molecular dynamic simulations show that the affinity of the spike protein from the wild type (WT) and the South African B.1.351 (SA) variant towards the MAO enzymes is comparable to that for its ACE2 receptor. This allows for the WT/SA…MAO complex formation, which changes MAO affinities for their neurotransmitter substrates, thus consequently impacting the rates of their metabolic conversion and misbalancing their levels. Knowing that this fine regulation is strongly linked with the etiology of various brain pathologies, these results are the first to highlight the possibility that the interference with the brain MAO catalytic activity is responsible for the increased neurodegenerative illnesses following a COVID-19 infection, thus placing a neurobiological link between these two conditions in the spotlight.
Relationship between COVID-19 infection and neurodegeneration: Computational insight into interactions between the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and the monoamine oxidase enzymes
Although COVID-19 has been primarily associated with pneumonia, recent data show that its causative agent, the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, can infect many vital organs beyond the lungs, including the heart, kidneys and the brain. The literature agrees that COVID-19 is likely to have long-term mental...
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Potential involvement of monoamine oxidase activity in delirium onset and SARS-COV2 infection
Subsequent computational structural comparison between MAOB and angiotensin converting enzyme 2 as well as protein-protein docking analysis showed possibly strong binding of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to MAOB resulting in a hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 influences MAOB activity possibly lead to many observed neurological and platelet-based complications of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Potential involvement of monoamine oxidase activity in delirium onset and SARS-COV2 infection
Delirium is an acute change in attention and cognition occurring in ~65% of severe SARS-CoV-2 cases. It is also common following surgery and an indicator of brain vulnerability and risk for the development of dementia. In this work we analyzed the underlying role of metabolism in...
