Even if a complete neuron doesn't die, if a huge chunk of the synapses are destroyed, whatever that neuron was doing before, it's doing a fraction afterwards:

a measurable, consistent, and symptom-correlated loss of dopamine nerve terminals averaging 18 percent across the long COVID group.

with localized damage to areas that match Long COVID symptoms:

“In other illnesses this magnitude of loss is associated with symptoms: loss in one region is associated with trouble with motivational energy problems, loss in another region is associated with some slowness of movement, and loss in a third region is associated with memory trouble.”

in short,

the terminals are gone, the loss is measurable, and it correlates with the symptoms patients have been reporting for years.

tech-paper.com/scientists-fina…

#neuroscience #neurology #science #LongCOVID #PASC #health

Scientists finally have a biological explanation for why long COVID patients lose motivation and can’t think clearly. They scanned their brains and found the dopamine system was physically damaged

Since the first wave of long COVID cases emerged in 2020, patients have described a remarkably consistent set of experiences. A profound flatness where motivation used to be. Words that…

^{Lena Hargrove (Tech Paper)}