Covid 19: End Organ Effect of Coronavirus on the Musculoskeletal System: A Basic Science Study

End Organ Effect of Coronavirus on the Musculoskeletal System: A Basic Science Study Specific Aims: Musculoskeletal injuries are known to elicit the inflammatory response and the coagulation cascade [1]. This is the same response that is primed by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 [2]. Patients with musculoskeletal injuries are uniquely prone to a worsened outcome from COVID-19 due to their heightened inflammatory and coagulopathic response associated with trauma. The goal of this proposal is to perform an animal study on surrogate murine coronavirus models that have undergone orthopaedic trauma with induced long bone femur fracture (Group 1) [2]. We will then evaluate the inflammatory and thrombotic response comparing it to murine coronavirus models without fractures (Group 2) and control mice with (Group 3) and without fracture (Group 4). This will elucidate the cumulative inflammatory and pro-thrombotic response exacerbated by orthopaedic trauma and simultaneous coronavirus infection. We will also examine the end organ effect on femur bones and surrounding musculature through histopathologic examination. The null hypothesis is that the murine coronavirus animal model will not have elevated inflammatory and thrombotic markers even after orthopaedic trauma compared to respective control. The authors hypothesize that the animal coronavirus model with musculoskeletal injury (Group 1) will have higher inflammatory and thrombotic marker expression with characteristic histopathological changes compared to the other three groups. The hypothesis will be validated through the following 2 aims: Aim 1: Elucidate the pro-inflammatory and pro-thrombotic state in a murine coronavirus model with and without femur fractures. Aim 2: Demonstrate end organ effect of COVID-19 on musculoskeletal tissue through histopathology examination.