加拿大成瘾与心理健康中心的研究利用正电子发射断层扫描技术，在长新冠患者脑内发现了多巴胺释放神经元的受损迹象。1研究人员在纹状体的所有主要区域检测到多巴胺标志物水平显著降低，这些部位的损伤分别与不同症状相关联：腹侧纹状体的降低与动力缺失相关，背侧壳核的降低与运动迟缓相关，尾状核的降低与记忆困难相关。1
研究负责人Dr. Jeffrey Meyer表示："我们的发现提供了令人信服的证据，表明长新冠涉及多巴胺释放神经元的丧失。"1这项研究建立在该团队之前关于长新冠患者脑内炎症水平异常高的发现基础之上。1据估计，长新冠影响全球人口的5%，在加拿大约有200万人患病。1
研究团队计划在未来几个月内启动临床试验，检验多巴胺前体和多巴胺代谢抑制剂等药物是否能通过调节多巴胺功能来改善患者的疲劳、脑雾和相关症状。1该研究已发表在eBioMedicine期刊。1
Researchers at Canada's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health have identified a potential biological basis for the debilitating fatigue and cognitive problems affecting long COVID patients. Using positron emission tomography imaging, the team discovered significantly reduced dopamine release markers across major regions of the striatum in affected individuals, a finding that may explain symptoms including fatigue, loss of motivation, movement slowness, and memory difficulties.1
The study found that dopamine deficits in specific brain areas correlate with distinct symptoms: reduced markers in the ventral striatum were associated with motivational loss, decreased activity in the dorsal putamen with movement slowness, and diminished levels in the caudate nucleus with memory impairment.1 "Our findings provide compelling evidence that long COVID involves loss of dopamine-releasing neurons," stated Dr. Jeffrey Meyer.1 Long COVID is estimated to affect approximately 5 percent of the global population, including roughly 2 million Canadians.1
The research builds upon earlier work by the same team documenting abnormally elevated brain inflammation in long COVID patients.1 The researchers plan to launch clinical trials within the coming months to test whether drugs targeting dopamine function—including dopamine precursors and dopamine metabolism inhibitors—can improve patient symptoms.1 The study was published in eBioMedicine.1
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