Researchers publish striking images of SARS-CoV-2 infected cells
Date:
September 10, 2020
Source:
University of North Carolina Health Care
Summary:
The UNC School of Medicine lab of Camille Ehre, PhD, generated high-
powered microscopic images showing startlingly high SARS-CoV-2 viral
loads on human respiratory surfaces, ready to spread infection in
infected individuals and transmit infection to others.
FULL STORY ==========================================================================
The UNC School of Medicine laboratory of Camille Ehre, PhD, Assistant
Professor of Pediatrics, produced striking images in respiratory
tract cultures of the infectious form of the SARS-CoV-2 virus produced
by infected respiratory epithelial cells. The New England Journal of
Medicine featured this work in its "Images in Medicine" section.
========================================================================== Ehre, a member of the UNC Marsico Lung Institute and the UNC Children's Research Institute, captured these images to illustrate how intense the
SARS- CoV-2 infection of the airways can be in very graphic and easily understood images. Her lab conducted this research in collaboration
with the labs of Ralph Baric, PhD, the William R. Kenan Distinguished
Professor of Epidemiology at the UNC Gillings School of Public Health, who holds a joint faculty appointment at the UNC Department of Microbiology
and Immunology, and Richard Boucher, MD, the James C. Moeser Eminent Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Director of the Marsico Lung
Institute at the UNC School of Medicine.
In a laboratory setting, the researchers inoculated the SARS-Co-V-2
virus into human bronchial epithelial cells, which were then examined
96 hours later using scanning electron microscopy.
The images, re-colorized by UNC medical student Cameron Morrison, show
infected ciliated cells with strands of mucus (yellow) attached to cilia
tips (blue).
Cilia are the hair-like structures on the surface of airway epithelial
cells that transport mucus (and trapped viruses) from the lung. A
higher power magnification image shows the structure and density of
SARS-CoV-2 virions (red) produced by human airway epithelia. Virions
are the complete, infectious form of the virus released onto respiratory surfaces by infected host cells.
This imaging research helps illustrate the incredibly high number of
virions produced and released per cell inside the human respiratory
system. The large viral burden is a source for spread of infection
to multiple organs of an infected individual and likely mediates the
high frequency of COVID-19 transmission to others. These images make a
strong case for the use of masks by infected and uninfected individuals
to limit SARS-CoV-2 transmission.
The images can be viewed here:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMicm2023328 The National
Institutes of Health and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation funded this
research.
========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
University_of_North_Carolina_Health_Care. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.
========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Camille Ehre. SARS-CoV-2 Infection of Airway Cells. New England
Journal
of Medicine, 2020; 383 (10): 969 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMicm2023328 ==========================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200910171816.htm
--- up 2 weeks, 3 days, 6 hours, 50 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1337:3/111)