%0 Journal Article
%A Romero, Alejandro
%A Ramos, Eva
%A Lopez-Muñoz, Francisco
%A Gil-Martin, Emilio
%A Escames, Germaine
%A Reiter, Russel J
%T Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and Its Neuroinvasive Capacity: Is It Time for Melatonin?
%D 2020
%U http://hdl.handle.net/10668/16074
%X The world faces an exceptional new public health concern caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), subsequently termed the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by the World Health Organization (WHO). Although the clinical symptoms mostly have been characterized, the scientific community still doesn´t know how SARS-CoV-2 successfully reaches and spreads throughout the central nervous system (CNS) inducing brain damage. The recent detection of SARS-CoV-2 in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and in frontal lobe sections from postmortem examination has confirmed the presence of the virus in neural tissue. This finding reveals a new direction in the search for a neurotherapeutic strategy in the COVID-19 patients with underlying diseases. Here, we discuss the COVID-19 outbreak in a neuroinvasiveness context and suggest the therapeutic use of high doses of melatonin, which may favorably modulate the immune response and neuroinflammation caused by SARS-CoV-2. However, clinical trials elucidating the efficacy of melatonin in the prevention and clinical management in the COVID-19 patients should be actively encouraged.
%K COVID-19
%K Central nervous system
%K Melatonin
%K Neuroinvasion
%K Neuroprotection
%K SARS-CoV-2
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