From the Crib to the Grave: Building, Rebuilding, and Aging Key Nervous System Cells

Cellular damage in the nervous system does not arise from a single mechanism — it emerges when the same molecular programs that build the nervous system during development go awry, are reactivated inappropriately, or fail during regeneration and aging. Understanding these shared pathways is essential for improving diagnostics and therapy across degenerative, developmental, and age-related neuropathologies.This Research Topic focuses on the pathological consequences and disease relevance of dysregulated neurodevelopmental and regenerative programs across the lifespan, in animal, cellular, organoid, and patient-derived models. We particularly invite contributions that examine:o Epigenetic and transcriptional dysregulation of neural stem and progenitor cell (NSPC) fate decisions as a driver of disease — how disrupted developmental programs contribute to impaired adult neurogenesis, failed regeneration, and age-related decline in proliferative and differentiation capacity, with implications for neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders.o Cellular senescence programs in neural lineages (NSPCs, neurons, and glia) as a pathological mechanism — contrasting their constructive roles in developmental circuit sculpting with their pathogenic accumulation, senescence-associated secretory phenotypes (SASP), and disruption of tissue homeostasis in neurodegeneration and brain aging, and the therapeutic potential of senolytic and senomorphic approaches.o Region- and niche-specific molecular pathology — including neuroimmune signaling, vascular and extracellular matrix dysfunction, and metabolic disturbances in the NSPC niche — as mechanisms linking failed developmental patterning to disease vulnerability, degeneration, and impaired repair in the aging and diseased CNS.By tracing the pathological continuum “from the crib to the grave,” this collection aims to identify shared disease mechanisms linking cellular damage across neurodevelopmental, regenerative, and age-related contexts — highlighting diagnostic biomarkers and points of therapeutic intervention relevant to cellular neuropathology. Topic editors: Daniel Ortuño-Sahagún, Juan Rafael Riesgo-Escovar Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/85238/from-the-crib-to-the-grave-building-rebuilding-and-aging-key-nervous-system-cells