New research may provide more clues on how Zika virus causes microcephaly

Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine have potentially added to existing knowledge with regard to how Zika virus affects the developing fetal brain. In a study published on September 29 in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, the research team infected in vitro cultures of human cells with the mosquito-borne virus, which has been linked with the birth defect microcephaly in babies born to infected pregnant women. They found that cranial neural crest cells, which are involved in the development of the bones and cartilage in the skull, are vulnerable to Zika virus, highlighting a potential mechanism for how children born with the virus can develop microcephaly. “Development of the brain involves complex interactions with surrounding tissues, one of them being the neural crest, which forms bulk of the craniofacial structures,” study co-author Joanna Wysocka, PhD, a chemical and systems biologist at the Stanford University School of Medicine, told Contagion. “It...