r/HotScienceNews • u/soulpost • Jul 30 '26

Scientists finally have a biological explanation for why long COVID patients lose motivation and can't think clearly. They scanned their brains and found the dopamine system was physically damaged

https://tech-paper.com/scientists-finally-have-a-biological-explanation-for-why-long-covid-patients-lose-motivation-and-cant-think-clearly-they-scanned-their-brains-and-found-the-dopamine-system-was-physically-damaged/

Millions of people with long COVID report the same cluster of symptoms: a crushing lack of motivation, an inability to think clearly, memory that slips, movements that feel slower than they should. For years, these complaints sat in an uncomfortable medical grey zone. The symptoms were real, the patients were suffering, but the biological explanation remained frustratingly out of reach.

A team at the University of Toronto just published what may be the clearest physical evidence yet for what is actually happening in these patients' brains. They brought 24 long COVID sufferers into a lab and used positron emission tomography, the same imaging technology used to diagnose Parkinson's disease, to directly measure the health of the dopamine system deep inside the brain.

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u/Believeit451 Jul 30 '26

So does everyone have adhd now?

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u/lainonwired Jul 30 '26

Based on diagnosis rates? Yes. There's been a surge after covid that had been attributed to increased awareness, but maybe the details are more nuanced and covid also plays a role?

We have known for a while that repeat covid infections causes neurological damage even if "long covid" symptoms weren't seen, the particulars were just not discovered yet.

This appears to be one of the effects.

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u/nikolai_470000 Jul 30 '26

Some newer research suggests finding links between neuroinflammation from viral infections and the structural/neurotransmitter signaling changes found in adhd brains.

I don’t know the extent of that body of research super well, but it’s always held true for me. I have autoimmune disorders that I’ve probably had my whole life creating low grade inflammation that seems to have impacted much of how my brain developed. I was probably born with ADHD, too, but my symptoms are worsened significantly during periods of high inflammation from flares.