Fig. 6: Similar concentrations of nucleocapsid protein in skeletal muscle in patients with long COVID as control.
From: Muscle abnormalities worsen after post-exertional malaise in long COVID
A The SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein was present in almost all participants, but not more abundant in long COVID (n = 23) compared to healthy controls (n = 19). B Typical examples of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein, as a marker for viral persistence, in skeletal muscle. Skeletal muscle biopsies from before the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic showed no signal when stained with polyclonal IgG anti-SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein, indicating that SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein was not present in uninfected people which confirmed there was no aspecific binding. Continuous parametric longitudinal data (panel A) were analyzed with a generalized linear mixed model with a two-sided ANOVA. Bar: 100 μm. PEM post-exertional malaise. Box plots show the median (centerline), the first and third quartiles (the lower and upper bound of the box), and the whiskers show the 1.5× interquartile range. Source data are provided in the Source Data File.
