O SARS-COV-2 É PERSISTENTE NA PLACENTA E CAUSA ALTERAÇÕES MACROSCÓPICAS, HISTOPATOLÓGICAS E ULTRAESTRUTURAIS

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.22533/at.ed.9371912402125

• Palavras-chave: -

• Keywords: covid-19, pregnant women, viral particles, pathogenesis, inflammation

• Abstract: SARS-CoV-2 is a virus that belongs to the Betacoronavirus genus of the Coronaviridae family. Others Coronavirus, such as SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, were associated with pregnant women complications. Therefore, this study aimed to report the clinical history of five pregnant women infected with SARS-CoV-2 (four symptomatic and one asymptomatic that gave birth to a stillborn child) during the COVID-19 pandemic, they gave birth between August 2020 to January 2021, period in which there was still no vaccination for COVID-19 in Brazil. Also, it was later investigated their placental alterations focusing in macroscopic, histopathological and ultrastructural aspects compared to a pre-pandemic sample. Three of five placentas presented SARS-CoV-2 RNA detected by RT-PCRq at least 2 to 20 weeks after pregnant primary infection symptoms, and SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein was detected in all placentas by immunoperoxidase assay. The macroscopic evaluation of the placentas presented congested vascular trunks, massive deposition of fibrin, areas of infarctions and calcifications. Histopathological analysis showed fibrin deposition, inflammatory infiltrate, necrosis and blood vessel thrombosis. Ultrastructural aspects of the infected placentas noticed similar pattern of alterations between the samples, with predominant characteristics of apoptosis and detection of virus like particles. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection in placental tissue, vertical transmission.