Researchers have created a version of COVID-19 in mice that shows how the disease damages organs other than the lungs. Using their model, the scientists discovered that the SARS-CoV-2 virus can shut down energy production in cells of the heart, kidneys, spleen and other organs.

«This mouse model is a really powerful tool for studying SARS-CoV-2 in a living system,» said Dr. Arjun Deb, a co-senior author of a paper about the study and a member of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA. «Understanding how this virus can hijack our cells might eventually lead to new ways to prevent or treat the organ failure that can accompany COVID-19 in humans.»

Deb said the same model could also help researchers learn more about other similar viruses that might emerge in the future, and it could be useful for testing eventual treatments.

The paper, published in the journal JCI Insight, was co-led by Vaithilingaraja Arumugaswami, an associate professor of molecular and medical pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a member of the Broad Stem Cell Research Center.

Researchers often study mice to understand the fundamentals of human disease, but translating human health conditions to animal models can be tricky. SARS-CoV-2, for instance, relies on the ACE2 protein to infect humans. But the virus doesn’t recognize the mouse version of ACE2, so healthy mice exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus don’t get sick.

In previous experiments by other research teams around the world, mice have been genetically engineered to have the human version of ACE2 in their lungs and then been infected — through their noses — with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Although that enables the virus to infect the mice and cause pneumonia, animals in those experiments don’t get as broad a range of other symptoms as humans do.

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Materials provided by University of California — Los Angeles Health Sciences. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.