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Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →In a small 2026 study, PET scans of 24 adults with long COVID showed lower levels of VMAT2, a marker associated with dopamine nerve terminals, across several striatal regions than scans of 24 healthy controls. The regional signals were associated with differences in motivation, movement and memory. The study does not establish that long COVID caused permanent neuron damage, and it does not show that dopamine-targeting treatment works.
What did the brain scans show in people with long COVID?
The study, “Loss of vesicular monoamine transporter 2 in striatum of long COVID and relationship to neuropsychiatric symptoms,” compared 24 adults with long COVID with 24 healthy controls. The researchers used PET imaging to measure vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2) in striatal brain regions. The long-COVID group had lower VMAT2 signal across those regions.
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Medical Daily reported regional reductions of about 16% to 20%. That is a range across regions as described in secondary coverage, not one universal percentage or a measurement that applies to every participant. The study was published in eBioMedicine in 2026 (volume 130, article 106339; DOI 10.1016/j.ebiom.2026.106339). Medical Daily’s account and CAMH’s institutional summary distributed by ScienceDaily describe the findings.
How the signal related to symptoms
The reported associations varied by striatal region: lower VMAT2 signal in the ventral striatum was associated with apathy, lower signal in the dorsal putamen with slower movement, and lower signal in the caudate with poorer memory. These are relationships observed in this sample; they do not mean every participant had each symptom or that the scan can explain an individual person’s symptoms.
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What is VMAT2, and why did researchers measure it?
VMAT2 is a protein that helps package monoamines, including dopamine, into vesicles in nerve cells. PET tracer binding to VMAT2 can act as an indirect marker related to dopamine nerve-terminal density. It is not a direct count of living or dead neurons.
That distinction matters: a lower PET binding signal is consistent with a difference in a dopamine-related marker, but by itself does not establish why the signal is lower or prove that neurons have permanently died. The study’s title and its authors’ interpretation concern possible loss or injury; the direct measurement was VMAT2 signal.
Does this prove long COVID damages dopamine neurons?
No. A case-control comparison measured participants at a point in time. It cannot show whether the VMAT2 difference came before long COVID symptoms, resulted from another factor, or caused the reported problems. Nor does it establish permanent neuron loss. With 24 people in each group, the findings are preliminary and should not be generalized to everyone with long COVID.
CAMH senior scientist Jeffrey Meyer said in the September 21, 2026 institutional release that the findings provide “compelling evidence that long COVID involves the loss of dopamine-releasing neurons.” That is the senior author’s interpretation of the marker findings, not a direct neuron count or proof of causation. The release also described long COVID as, “at least in part, a disorder of the brain’s dopamine system”; that too is an interpretation rather than a clinical guideline.
Does this mean there is a dopamine treatment for long COVID?
No effective dopamine treatment follows from this imaging result. CAMH’s September 21, 2026 release said a clinical trial with University Health Network was planned to test whether modifying dopamine activity could improve memory, motivation and fatigue. A planned trial is a question to be tested, not evidence that a treatment has been proven to help.
The study was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, according to the CAMH release. The available summary does not establish detailed methods such as recruitment criteria, medication washout, blinding or adjustment models, so those particulars should not be inferred from the reported findings.
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Should I take a dopamine supplement or ask for a PET scan?
This study is not a reason to start dopamine-related medicines or supplements, or to seek a VMAT2 PET scan on your own. The scans were a research measure for comparing groups, not an established routine diagnostic test for an individual with long COVID. People with persistent or worsening symptoms can discuss an individualized evaluation with a qualified clinician.
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