Coronavirus, an infectious disease known as COVID-19, has become a
pandemic affecting the respiratory system of humans and leads to fatal outcomes. It has
been originated from Wuhan, China, and has spread all over the world. This virus
shares similar clinical symptoms with the earlier viral infections, such as Severe acute
respiratory syndrome (SARS-Cove) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome
(MERS-CoV) infection; therefore, COVID-19 is also known as SARS-CoV-2. As of
SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2 also utilizes the ACE-2 receptor to enter the host cell. These
receptors are reported to present in the brain and cerebrospinal fluid. Moreover, various
COVID-19 patients reported symptoms related to neuro, such as nausea, headache,
tremor, etc. This finding shows that the virus is not only restricted to the respiratory
system, but it also invades the CNS, which raises the interest to find its mechanism to
enter the human brain cell and alteration of various brain Signalling pathways such as
interferon, MAPK, JAK-STAT, and ACE-2/ANG-(1-7)/MAS caused by the novel
coronavirus. Here, in this chapter, the recent updates regarding COVID-19 brain
alterations and the possible brain targets to treat the SARS-CoV-2 disease have been
discussed.
Keywords: ACE-2, COVID-19, CNS, JAK-STAT, MAPK, SARS.
