TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – A research team in the Netherlands has captured three-dimensional images of surface cells inside infected nostrils SARS-CoV-2. Using unusual microscopic techniques, the images show how the Covid-19 coronavirus may have changed the structure of the cells they infect, and could help provide clues on how to develop drugs against infection with this virus.
Tim peneliti di Utrecht University menumbuhkan sel-sel yang diambil dari dalam hidung milik sukarelawan yang sehat. Mereka kemudian membuat sebagian sel itu terinfeksi virus corona Covid-19. Tahap berikutnya, tim peneliti itu menandai sel dengan serat fluoresens dengan warna yang berbeda-beda untuk yang terikat ke membran lemak, protein, maupun protein paku dari SARS-CoV-2.
Berikutnya, sel dipotong menggunakan ezim dan potongannya ditanam dalam sebuah gel. Ketika air ditambahkan ke gel, air itu diserap oleh gel, membuat struktur yang ditanam atau dibenamkan di dalamnya menjadi membesar atau mengembang. Teknik (disebut mikroskopi ekspansi) ini dikembangkan oleh tim peneliti berbeda, tapi tim di Utrecht menyempurnakannya, memampukannya memperbesar sampel-sampel hingga sepuluh kali lipat di setiap dimensinya.
Ini berarti mikroskop optikal dapat melihat secara efektif struktur-struktur yang berukuran 20 nanometer—termasuk virus SARS-CoV-2 yang berukuran diameter sekitar 100 nanometer. Normalnya mereka tidak dapat melihat dengan jelas obyek-obyek yang lebih kecil dari 200 nanometer.
The resulting images show large membrane-bound structures in viral formations seen inside the cells of the infected nasal passages. With specific protein markers, the research team identified those structures as multivesicular bodies which grows abnormally. They are also visible in electron microscopy images of cells infected with SARS-CoV-2, but are clearly identified.
The surface of the cells in the nostrils is covered by two types of hair-like structures. The large ones, called cilia, move mucus along the airways and keep them clear of dust. Then there are the smaller microvilli which increase the surface area of the cells to aid absorption.
The microvilli in cells infected with the Covid-19 coronavirus become longer and sometimes branch. As happened when infected with the influenza virus and shown in fluorescence, the Covid-19 coronavirus is thought to proliferate at the tips of the microvilli in the cells in the nose.
A health worker takes a nose sample for the Covid-19 swab antigen test from a woman as a condition before boarding the train to travel back and forth at the Pasar Senen train station, Jakarta, on May 1, 2021. The number of deaths increased by 131 to 45,652, according to the Health Ministry on Saturday. yesterday. Xinhua/Great Kuncahya B
The image also shows the Covid-19 infection damaging the cilia. It is not yet clear why along with no coronavirus spike protein in it.
The same research team also tested cells from monkey kidneys with infection SARS-CoV-2. These cells usually have a soft surface, but infected cells develop numerous lumps called filopodia which come from where the virus grows and reproduces.
His research team thinks the process that causes filopodia to form is the same as that which makes the microvilli grow longer in airway cells.
NEW SCIENTIST
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