"폐에서 6시간 내 급속히 바이러스 증식"...코로나19 감염 과정 규명<br /><br />South Korean researchers have identified the infection mechanism of COVID-19 ... using a human lung grown in a lab.<br />This is expected to help scientists develop treatments for the virus.<br />Park Se-young has more.<br />The study of COVID-19 infections had hit a limit ...because it is difficult to infect mice and there are no available human alveoli in laboratories.<br />A joint research team ...led by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology ...has found a way around this problem by developing the technology for stable and long-term 3D cultivation of human lung tissue in laboratories.<br />Using the 3D human alveolar model, the researchers can study the disease mechanisms of various respiratory viruses, ...including COVID-19.<br />When the model was exposed to the COVID-19 virus, ...the virus spread rapidly within six hours and completed the infection process.<br />Meanwhile, the activation of the innate immune response of the lung took about three days.<br />The researchers also found that some of the cells lost their function from the third day ...and that one virus particle was enough to infect one cell.<br />"We can do more efficient and faster research by using human alveoli to directly study disease mechanisms and for drug screening."<br />The study was published in the online version of the scientific journal Cell Stem Cell.<br />Park Se-young, Arirang News.<br />
