Edited and reviewed by: Bruce Miller, University of California, San Francisco, United States
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Neurodevelopmental disorders are generally influenced by not only genetic, but also intrauterine and extrauterine factors that affect the fetal-maternal environment and/or brain development that continues after birth (
Similar evidence has been found also for neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's disease, and chronic multiple sclerosis (
Thus, it is essential to study the ethio-pathogenetic and anatomo-pathological aspects of neurodevelopmental disorders and neurodegenerative disease with particular attention to the study of specific biomarkers useful for diagnostic and prognostic purposes.
The goal of the Research Topic “
This Research Topic was proposed in particular to focus on the following subtopics:
Genetic background that may increase susceptibility to environmental factors that alter nervous system development
Molecular and neuropathological features of neurological disease across the lifespan
Approaches for identifying specific genetic substrates and environmental factors that alter brain development to cause disease
Mechanisms by which genetic and environmental factors interact to increase risk of neurological disease
Neuropathology of unexplained perinatal deaths, considering also the interaction between environmental risk factors and brain developmental defects
Proposal of evidence-based prevention and management strategies to decrease the incidence of these pathologies.
In order to summarize the contributions to this Research Topic, we have grouped the articles in two main sections: one dedicated to new perspectives useful both for preventive and diagnostic purposes of various neurological disorders and a second focused on new biomarkers which can help in predicting Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.
The articles are distributed in the following subsections:
(a) New indicators of neurodegenerative processes
Through a meta-analysis approach,
The experimental research of
(b) Involvement of environmental factors in neurological disorders
The adverse impact of exposure to neurotoxic metal mixtures on brain connectivity was illustrated by
Damage from toxic metals was also demonstrated by
The study of
New biomarkers for predicting the occurrence of Parkinson's disease (PD) have been highlighted by
The relation between hypertension and increased risk of AD has been underlined by
In an explorative study,
We believe that the above contributions, although heterogeneous in their approach, collectively broaden the current knowledge on the pathogenetic mechanisms of neurodevelopmental disorders and neurodegenerative diseases, which often involves complex interactions between genetic and non-genetic factors, including exposure to environmental contaminants. In conclusion, we hope these articles will prove useful for improving current diagnostic criteria and preventive strategies and also for providing impetus for further research in the field of this Research Topic.
AL: Conceptualization, Data curation, Validation, Writing—original draft, Writing—review and editing. MC: Conceptualization, Data curation, Validation, Writing—original draft. PL: Conceptualization, Supervision, Validation, Writing—original draft, Writing—review and editing.
The Research Topic Editors express sincere gratitude to the authors who accepted the invitation to contribute to this collection and the reviewers for their significant comments, so elevating the quality of the submitted articles. Finally, they thank Frontiers and, in particular, the Editorial Office for the essential support.
MC has been a consultant/advisor to GW Pharma Limited, GW Pharma Italy SRL, and F. Hoffmann-La Roche Limited outside of this work. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.