Single-cell gene expression links SARS-CoV-2 infection and gut serotonin

Alyce M. Martin, Michael Roach, Lauren A. Jones, Daniel Thorpe, Rosemary A. Coleman, Caitlin Allman, Robert Edwards, Damien J. Keating

Research output: Contribution to journalLetterpeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)
68 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract


We read with great interest the paper by Ha et al demonstrating that circulating levels of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) are increased in COVID-19 and correlate with disease severity and gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhoea. Another recent paper by Lin et al in this journal demonstrated that diarrhoea is the most common GI symptom in patients with COVID-19. Almost all 5-HT in our body is produced by enterochromaffin (EC) cells within the epithelium of the GI tract, which constitute approximately half of all enteroendocrine (EE) cells. Gut-derived 5-HT modulates gut peristalsis and exacerbates inflammatory responses by acting as a chemotactic molecule for various immune cells and by triggering cytokine release. While most gut epithelial cell types are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection, EE cells have the greatest proportion of cells infected at 12 hours after viral exposure.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1430-1431
Number of pages2
JournalGut
Volume72
Issue number7
Early online date23 Aug 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2023

Keywords

  • Covid-19
  • Diarrhoea
  • Gastrointestinal hormones
  • Serotonin

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