Neural Signaling Pathways in Brain Disease: Cellular Mechanisms and Therapeutic Targets

Neuroscience investigates how molecular and cellular processes sustain neural signaling, synaptic plasticity, homeostasis, and coordinated circuit function. Neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, intracellular signaling pathways, and region-specific mechanisms operate together across the cortex, hippocampus, hypothalamus, striatum, and brainstem to regulate behavior and adaptation. However, disturbances in these processes may produce pathological molecular states associated with neurodevelopmental, neurodegenerative, and neuropsychiatric conditions. Current research continues to examine how protein dysfunction, abnormal aggregation, altered synaptic regulation, and disrupted circuit homeostasis contribute to disease onset and progression. Although advances in electrophysiology, biochemical analysis, immunohistochemistry, and behavioral neuroscience have generated important insights, the relationships between molecular alterations, circuit dysfunction, and behavioral outcomes remain incompletely understood. A better integration of these levels is needed to identify mechanisms that can inform disease-modifying and circuit-level therapies.This Research Topic aims to clarify the molecular mechanisms that support normal neural function and determine how their disruption contributes to pathological changes. It will examine how signaling pathways, neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, protein regulation, and region-specific neural processes shape synaptic plasticity, homeostasis, and circuit activity. The Research Topic will also consider how pathological molecular mechanisms can be identified, validated, and therapeutically targeted. Studies may address specific hypotheses linking molecular states to electrophysiological, anatomical, circuit, or behavioral phenotypes, with the broader objective of establishing a pre-clinical foundation for novel drug targets and therapeutic strategies.To gather further insights across neural mechanisms, pathological molecular alterations, and therapeutic development, we welcome studies addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:• Neurotransmitter, neuropeptide, and intracellular signaling pathways regulating synaptic plasticity and neural homeostasis• Region-specific molecular and circuit mechanisms in the cortex, hippocampus, hypothalamus, striatum, and brainstem• Protein dysfunction, misfolding, and aggregation in neurodevelopmental, neurodegenerative, and neuropsychiatric disorders• Genetic models and genome editing approaches (e.g., CRISPR-based gene editing, transgenic and knockout/knock-in animal models) for dissecting causal molecular pathways and modeling disease-relevant mutations• Relationships between molecular alterations, electrophysiological activity, circuit function, and behavioral outcomes• Pharmacological interventions, drug-target validation, and circuit-level therapeutics for modifying pathological neural states Topic editors: Yuya Sakimoto, Md Nabiul Islam, Irena Maria Nalepa Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/86210/neural-signaling-pathways-in-brain-disease-cellular-mechanisms-and-therapeutic-targets