US scientists have found the first direct evidence that coronavirus could infect the human brain and replicate inside its cells, heightening concern about the disease’s poorly understood neurological symptoms.
美国科学家发现了新型冠状病毒可以感染人脑、并在人脑细胞内复制的首个直接证据，这加剧了有关这种疾病会导致神经系统症状的担忧，目前科学家对这方面了解不多。
Thomas Hartung and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University made the discovery after adding low levels of Sars-Cov-2, the virus responsible for Covid-19, to tiny neuronal balls known as mini-brains that are grown from human stem cells.
约翰•霍普金斯大学(Johns Hopkins University)的托马斯•哈通(Thomas Hartung)及同事将低水平的Sars-Cov-2——导致新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19，即2019冠状病毒病）的病毒——添加至用人类干细胞培育的微小神经元球，即“迷你大脑”，获得了上述发现。
The researchers found the virus infected neurons in the mini-brains via the ACE2 human protein that is known to be an important entry point for Sars-Cov-2. The virus then multiplied within the neurons; within three days the number of copies had increased at least tenfold.
研究人员发现，病毒通过人类ACE2蛋白——已知的Sars-Cov-2进入人体细胞的重要入口——感染了迷你大脑中的神经元。病毒随后在神经元内繁殖；复制的病毒数量在三天内增加了至少十倍。