Stomach and coronavirus

Scientists investigate symptoms of covid on "mini-stomachs"

Tatiana Matveeva, "Scientific Russia"

Scientists from the UK have grown organoids that mimic stomachs at different stages of development – an intrauterine fetus, a child and an adult.

Using these models, the researchers showed that SARS-CoV-2 infection more actively affects the child's stomach, the press service of University College London reports. The results of the work are published in the journal Nature Communications (Giobbe et al., SARS-CoV-2 infection and replication in human gastric organoids). 

Along with such "classic" symptoms as cough, difficulty breathing, loss of taste and smell, patients with COVID-19 may also experience symptoms such as, for example, diarrhea. How exactly the infection affects the gastrointestinal tract, scientists investigated with the help of organoids grown in the laboratory. 

Researchers attacked the surface of the cells of "mini-stomachs" virus and have shown that SARS-CoV-2 can replicate in the stomach. It turned out that the virus multiplies more actively in organoids that were grown from stem cells of a child than in an adult "mini-stomach" or "mini-stomach" of an intrauterine fetus.

The team also showed that delta cells that produce the hormone somatostatin (it suppresses the production of various hormone-active peptides and serotonin) died, which may explain some of the symptoms of stomach diseases that are observed in covid-positive patients. The team's laboratory results reflect a picture of gastrointestinal symptoms that occur in patients of different ages.

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