Fig. 1: Inflammation and BBB permeability in cases infected with acute COVID-19.
a, Analyte abundance plots showing serum concentrations of blood biomarkers in unaffected patients and patients with mild, moderate and severe SARS-CoV-2. Each cytokine was normalized to the respective mean cytokine level in unaffected individuals. BDNF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor; CCL5, C-C motif chemokine 5; MIP-1α, macrophage inflammatory protein-1 alpha; PAI1, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1; PDGF-BB, platelet-derived growth factor-BB; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor. b–e, Levels of IL-6 (P = 0.009 moderate versus control, P < 0.0001 severe versus control) (b), IL-8 (P = 0.027 moderate versus control, P = 0.003 severe versus control) (c), IFNγ (P = 0.02 moderate versus control, P = 0.015 severe versus control) (d) and IL-1RA (P = 0.0007 moderate versus control, P < 0.0001 severe versus control) (e) according to COVID severity. f, Analyte abundance plots showing serum concentrations of blood biomarkers in cases with brain fog versus cases without. Each cytokine was normalized to the respective mean cytokine level in individuals without brain fog. g–j, Levels of serum S100β (P = 0.0002) (g), bFGF (P = 0.027) (h), IL-13 (P = 0.005) (i) and MCP-1 (P = 0.028) (j) according to brain fog status. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) adjusting for age, sex, COVID severity and comorbidities. The violin plots show the median (solid line) and interquartile (dashed lines) values; each data point represents one patient.
