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Human neural stem cells that help form the brain and spinal cord are highly susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, including omicron variants BA.1 and BA.2, according to new research from the University of California, Riverside. The findings raise concerns about the potential effects of maternal COVID-19 infection on early nervous system development and underscore the importance of monitoring children exposed to the virus before birth.

The researchers, led by Prue Talbot, a professor of the graduate division in the Department of Molecular, Cell and Systems Biology, found that human neural stem cells were significantly more susceptible to infection by SARS-CoV-2 spike pseudoparticles—modified, nonreplicating virus particles used to safely study infection—than undifferentiated human embryonic stem cells. The susceptibility was observed with the original viral spike as well as the two omicron variants.

"Our data clearly show that human neural stem cells are readily infected by SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus, including the currently prevalent omicron variants," Talbot said.

Neural stem cells emerge from the ectoderm, an early embryonic tissue that gives rise to the central nervous system. Because these cells help establish the foundation for the brain and spinal cord, infection during early development could have consequences ranging from pregnancy loss and severe developmental abnormalities to more subtle changes that may not be apparent at birth.

"Such subtle damage might only appear years later as learning, behavioral or cognitive difficulties," said Ann Song, a postdoctoral researcher in Talbot's lab and the first author of the study published in PLOS One .

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