How the virus entering the fetal nervous system is studied.
A child born with microcephaly
In what may be the first evidence
of lab power Zika virus, researchers in the United States have found that
severely damages a type of neural stem cell that gives rise to the cerebral
cortex of the brain.
The results are significant since
the World Health Organization (WHO) is set to decide in the coming months if
the Zika virus - historically known to be relatively benign - is in fact
totally responsible for the outbreak of microcephaly, or deformed skulls in
newborns in Brazil and elsewhere in South America.
The research team, led by Guo-Li
Ming and Hongjun Song of the School of Medicine and Heng Li Tang of the report
from the University of Florida at Johns Hopkins, in the current issue of Stem
Cell journal Cell who they saw the "destruction of the virus in neuronal
cells derived from pluripotent stem cells induced by man.
"This is a first step and
there is much more to do," said Mr. Song, a neuroscientist and stem cell
biologist. "What we show is that the Zika virus infects neuronal cells on
the plate that are homologous to those forming the cortex during development of
the human brain. We do not know at all what is happening in the developing
fetus. These results may correlate with brain development, but it is more
likely to come from the direct evidence of a link between the Zika virus and
microcephaly clinical studies, "the statement added.
Several other questions remain
however. For example, why are so mild symptoms in adults? How does the virus
enters the nervous system of the developing fetus?
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