Brain Mat

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New brain scans show long COVID causes physical damage to the brain's dopamine system — causing brain fog, fatigue, and memory loss.

Using advanced positron emission tomography (PET) scans, researchers at Canada's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health compared 24 adults experiencing long COVID with healthy individuals.

They analyzed a crucial protein called VMAT2, which acts as a marker for the integrity of dopamine-releasing nerve terminals in the brain's striatum. The results were striking: those suffering from long COVID showed significantly reduced dopamine markers across all major regions of the striatum, representing a 16% to 20% deficit compared to healthy controls.

The location of the damage directly matched patients' specific symptoms. Lower dopamine signals in the ventral striatum were linked to severe apathy and loss of motivation, while reductions in the dorsal putamen and caudate putamen correlated with slower physical movements and impaired memory.

While it is still unclear whether this neural injury is permanent or if the cells have died, the findings build on previous research showing high levels of brain inflammation in the same areas.

Crucially, these insights could open the door to testing dopamine-boosting treatments to finally address the debilitating neurological toll of long COVID.

source: Liu, Y. K., et al. (2026). Loss of vesicular monoamine transporter 2 in striatum of long COVID and relationship to neuropsychiatric symptoms. eBioMedicine.