The combination of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure (PAE) and Placental Insufficiency (PI) places infants at an increased risk for preterm birth and may worsen brain injury and neurobehavioral outcomes. In this preclinical study, the effect of PAE+PI on lateral, medial, and ventral prefrontal cortex (PFC), striatum and corpus callosum microstructure were investigated using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). These brain regions are important for executive and higher cognitive functions, like cognitive flexibility.

Innervation of the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) by the orexigenic agouti-related protein (AgRP) and anorexigenic α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH) neurons of the arcuate nucleus (ARC) is a key element in the appetite-regulating neuronal circuitry whose development is influenced by circulating metabolic signals. In the present work, we studied if PVN innervation by the AgRP and α-MSH fibers is influenced by gut microbiota.

The developing brain exhibits rostro-caudal gradients that align with the maturation of functionally organized circuits. The barrel cortex, a spatially precise sensory structure, serves as an ideal model to examine such gradients within a confined functional domain. GABAergic interneurons, characterized by subtype-specific developmental trajectories and pivotal roles in early cortical dynamics, provide a strategic cellular entry point for this investigation.

Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) are chronic conditions marked by abnormal brain development, presenting with significant clinical heterogeneity. Early diagnosis is crucial but challenging due to the complex symptoms. Genetic factors play a dominant role in NDD etiology. This study was to evaluate the diagnostic utility of dual-dimension whole-exome sequencing (WES) analysis in Chinese patients with NDDs and to deepen the understanding of genotype-phenotype correlations.

Small for gestational age (SGA) infants face a heightened risk of motor delays that can persist into childhood, affecting cognitive and language development. Early identification and intervention are critical for better long-term outcomes.

Human apolipoprotein E allele ε4 (ApoE4) is the strongest genetic risk factor for some forms of adulthood neurodegeneration linked to energetic disturbances and inflammation. We hypothesized that ApoE4 also influences neonatal brain neurodegeneration after a hypoxic-ischemic (HI) insult, resulting in energy substrates (i.e., glucose, ketone bodies [KBs]) disturbances, hippocampal injury, cell death, and inflammation.

Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine [5-HT]) plays an important role in early development, and fetal 5-HT has been reported to arise from placental and maternal sources. Previous human studies have established an association between maternal 5-HT levels and neurodevelopmental outcomes in populations with autism. In this study, we analyze umbilical cord blood and placental 5-HT levels at birth to further investigate the relationship of gestational 5-HT levels with birth outcomes and offspring cognitive development.

KCTD7-related epilepsy is a rare neurogenetic disorder characterized by marked genetic and phenotypic heterogeneity, typically presenting with early onset and often exhibiting poor response to conventional antiseizure medications.

The efficacy of therapeutic hypothermia (TH) for neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is inconsistent, and the cause remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the role of cold stress protein in the TH-induced neuroprotection following hypoxia-ischemia (HI) using hyperpolarized carbon-13 MRI (HP-13C MRI).

Single-cell transcriptomic analyses in adult mice show that cortical projection neuron subclasses exhibit heterogenous gene expression profiles that reflect their projection targets and laminar and areal positions. Further analyses revealed that projection neurons within the same subclass also exhibit transcriptomic heterogeneity. Recent evidence suggests that differences in maturation state reflect one source of this heterogeneity. The MET receptor tyrosine kinase, a regulator of synapse maturation, is expressed in a subpopulation within cortical projection neuron subclasses, providing an experimental model to address transcriptomic heterogeneity within developing projection neuron subclasses.

Staphylococcus epidermidis (SE) is a predominant hospital-acquired bacterium leading to late-onset sepsis in preterm infants. Recent findings have suggested that postnatal SE infection is associated with short-term neurodevelopmental consequences. However, the potential effects of postnatal SE infection on long-term neuronal plasticity and cognitive functions, which are sensitive to early life brain insults, remain unclear. In light of these findings, we investigated the effects of postnatal SE infection on recognition memory function using a neonatal mouse model.

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) has been shown to adversely affect developing white matter, putting infants at risk for neurodevelopmental disability, including cerebral palsy. White matter injury (WMI) has been well documented in both human and animal studies of IUGR with sexual dimorphism. Currently, the underlying cellular mechanisms leading to WMI in IUGR remain poorly understood, but energy failure is a likely candidate.

The timing of myelination during development varies spatially according to the evolving functional demands of the maturing brain and is likely a mechanism of plasticity that contributes to sensitive periods of brain development during which the brain has heightened susceptibility to environmental influences. Disruption to this myelination process is therefore likely to have spatially and temporally heterogeneous effects. Myelinating oligodendrocytes arise from the differentiation of oligodendrocyte precursor cells, a process that depends on the transcription factor Myrf. In this study, the inducible Myrf conditional knockout mouse model is leveraged to characterize the impact of inhibiting oligodendrogenesis during the juvenile or adolescent period on white matter tracts with different timing of maturation.

Combined therapeutic hypothermia (TH) and 24-h hydrogen (H) gas inhalation reduces seizure burden in piglets in the latent phase of hypoxic-ischemic (HI) injury versus TH alone. Nevertheless, the effects of H gas in the earliest phase following resuscitation were unclear.

Folding of the neocortex is a fundamental feature of brain development in many mammalian species, notably in most non-human primates and in particular in human. Cortical folding is thought to allow a larger cortical surface area, with a greater number of neurons, to fit into the limited size of the cranial cavity.

The mammalian cerebrum has changed substantially during evolution. Neurons and glial cells have increased, and the cerebrum has expanded and folded. Although these evolutionary changes are believed to be important for acquiring higher cognitive functions, the molecular mechanisms underlying the development and evolution of the mammalian cerebrum are not fully understood. This is partially due to the difficulty in analyzing these mechanisms using only mice.

The ferret is an important model for studying corticogenesis and cortical gyrification due to its small size, condensed cortical development timeline, and postnatal onset of gyrification. Its cortical progenitor and neuronal diversity closely resemble those of humans. However, detailed histological data across the rostrocaudal axis at critical embryonic and postnatal stages remain limited, particularly for recently identified progenitor subpopulations. This study aimed to comprehensively characterise the spatiotemporal expression of key progenitor and neuronal markers throughout the rostrocaudal axis of the developing ferret cortex at critical embryonic and postnatal ages. In doing so, the study sought to establish a foundational, descriptive atlas of neurodevelopmental marker expression across key time points and cortical regions and layers.

Morphogenesis is crucial to shape tissues and embryos during development and results from a combination of gene expression, extracellular matrix (ECM) remodelling, and mechanical forces. The roles of gene regulation, biochemical signalling, and cell-generated forces have been extensively studied, but little is known about the active role of the ECM and the contribution of extracellular forces in shaping tissues.

Inhibitory control during visually guided reaching allows for the development of flexible problem-solving in healthy infants born at term. Inhibitory control is often impaired among older children born preterm, but the developmental trajectory of inhibitory control in infants born preterm is not well understood. The objective of this study was to evaluate the developmental trajectory of inhibitory control on the Object Retrieval Task in infants born preterm.

The progressive folding of the cortex is an important feature of neurodevelopment starting around the 14th week of gestation. The central sulcus (CS) is one of the first to fold. Since it represents the anatomical boundary between primary somatosensory and motor functional regions, its developing morphology may inform on the acquisition of sensorimotor skills. We aimed to identify potential asynchronous morphological changes along the CS during infancy, with the hypothesis that this may reflect the differential onset in the emergence of motor milestones across body parts.

This study aimed to investigate trunk control, balance, and upper extremity skill quality in ambulatory children with diplegic cerebral palsy (CP) classified as Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS)-I and -II, as well as to compare the GMFCS groups among themselves and with healthy children.