Evidence of the COVID-19 Virus Targeting the CNS: Tissue Distribution, Host–Virus Interaction, and Proposed Neurotropic Mechanisms

The recent outbreak of coronavirus infectious disease 2019 (COVID- 19) has gripped the world with apprehension and has evoked a scare of epic proportion regarding its potential to spread and infect humans worldwide. Scientists are struggling to understand how it resembles and differs from the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARSCoV) at the genomic and transcriptomic level. Similar to SARS-CoV, COVID-19 virus exploits the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor to gain entry inside the cells. This finding raises the curiosity of investigating the expression of ACE2 in neurological tissue and determining the possible contribution of neurological tissue damage to the morbidity and mortality caused by COIVD-19.