Tissue Integrity and COVID-19

Abstract

Tissue integrity depends on biological tissue stiffness. Tissue integrity can protect both against age-related diseases and against severity of COVID-19. The disruption of tight junctions and increase of tissue permeability with advancing age can be related with age-related diseases as well as with age-dependent COVID-19. Release of tightly bound water from collagen fibrils leads to the increase of extracellular matrix stiffness and to the associated with matrix stiffness increased tissue permeability. The link between arterial stiffness and oxidative stress has been reported and is expected to be studied in more detail in the future. Trehalose can be suggested for retardation of tightly bound water release and subsequent extracellular matrix crosslinking by advanced glycation end products. Increase in tissue permeability can be blocked by polyphenols that inhibit ICAM-1 expression and mitigate cytoskeleton reorganization. NF-κB activation as a result of increased stiffness and cytoskeleton reorganization can cause both cardiovascular pathologies and COVID-19. Increased cholesterol content in cell membrane leads to increased virus entry into cell and increase of cholesterol is linked with cardiovascular diseases. Statins and chitosan are known as cholesterol-lowering substances. Nrf2 inhibits NF-κB activation and NF-κB inhibits Nrf2 pathway.