Dynamic Molecular Changes in Brain, Lung, and Heart of Hamsters Infected With SARS-CoV-2: Insights From a Severe and Recovery Phase Model.

Publication date: Jun 01, 2025

The Global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 was initiated by the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. In addition to conventional pulmonary lesions, a range of neurological injury symptoms have been identified in clinical practice, but the aetiology of neurological disorders linked to SARS-CoV-2 infection remains poorly understood. Syrian hamsters, which are highly susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection, exhibit a disease phenotype similar to that observed in human COVID-19 patients. In this study, a hamster model of COVID-19 infection was used to analyze molecular changes in different tissues at various time points post infection with distinct strains using proteomic and phosphoproteomic approaches. Multi-omics analysis showed that SARS-COV-2 infection triggers sustained downregulation of the abundance and phosphorylation levels of neuronal and synapse-associated proteins in the brain, suggesting that neuronal damage persists even during the recovery period. Additionally, infections with SARS-CoV-2 may contribute to the onset of long-term symptoms of COVID-19 by impacting energy metabolism, neurotransmitter release, and synaptic transmission pathways. This study provides a comprehensive molecular profile of hamsters infected with different SARS-CoV-2 strains in different tissues, offering foundational insights into the pathogenic mechanisms of COVID-19.

Concepts Keywords
Coronavirus Animals
Hamsters Brain
Molecular COVID-19
Pandemic Cricetinae
Practice Disease Models, Animal
Humans
Lung
Male
Mesocricetus
Myocardium
Omicron
phosphoproteomics
Proteomics
proteomics
prototype
SARS-CoV-2
SARS‐CoV‐2

Semantics

Type Source Name
disease MESH coronavirus disease 2019
disease MESH neurological disorders
pathway REACTOME SARS-CoV-2 Infection
disease MESH infection
pathway REACTOME Metabolism
disease MESH Long Covid
disease MESH Disease Models Animal

Original Article

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