Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
5.6
2.8
Journals
Brain Sciences
Special Issues
Brain Plasticity in Health and Disease: From Molecules to Circuits
share announcement

Brain Plasticity in Health and Disease: From Molecules to Circuits

A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Systems Neuroscience".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026 | Viewed by 2525

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Angélica Zepeda

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Instituto de Investigaciones Biomedicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico, Mexico
Interests: brain damage; neurorepair; brain development; functional reorganization; adult neurogenesis; learning and memory; behavior

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Brain plasticity is one of the most amazing phenomena occurring continuously in our daily lives. A myriad of events occurring at the subcellular, cellular, and circuit levels underly our ability to learn, remember, adapt to new situations, or extinguish non-adaptive behaviors. The occurrence of these events ultimately modulates behavior and cognition. Positive as well as negative plasticity may occur when facing a particular situation, like brain injury, a brain vascular event, or brain inflammation due to an infection, and accompanying events may ultimately lead to functional reorganization or altered non-adaptive responses. Adaptive plastic mechanisms also change throughout life, being more prominent during early postnatal stages or childhood and declining with age. In this Special Issue, we aim to gather original research and reviews, including basic and clinical studies, that provide the reader with an overview of the current research on brain plasticity mechanisms, from epigenetic events to brain circuit remodeling, that ultimately impact behavior. Recent findings in brain plasticity using cutting-edge technology show many events that are presumed to occur but have not been proven until now, like epigenetic changes in brain cells underlying transgenerational disease, the role of astrocytes in the formation of memory engrams, the participation of areas remote to a lesion in functional recovery, or the involvement of neurogenesis in circuit remodeling.

This Special Issue welcomes the following article types but is not limited to them: original basic and clinical research, opinions, minireviews, methods, reviews, and perspectives.

Prof. Dr. Angélica Zepeda
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • brain damage
  • neurorepair
  • brain development
  • brain maps
  • brain circuits
  • neurodegeneration
  • aging
  • neurogenesis
  • neurorehabilitation
  • learning and memory
  • epigenetics
  • behavior

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Review

32 pages, 436 KB  
Review
Amblyopia in 2026: A State-of-the-Art Review of Multidimensional Phenotyping, Response Heterogeneity, and Clinical Considerations
by Danjela Ibrahimi and José R. García-Martínez
Brain Sci. 2026, 16(5), 467; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci16050467 - 27 Apr 2026
Viewed by 946
Abstract
Amblyopia is increasingly conceptualized as a neurodevelopmental visual disorder that often arises from discordant binocular visual experience during early life and is associated with abnormal binocular interactions, interocular suppression, orientation-dependent developmental abnormalities in selected refractive phenotypes, and experience-dependent plasticity, consistent with a distributed-network [...] Read more.
Amblyopia is increasingly conceptualized as a neurodevelopmental visual disorder that often arises from discordant binocular visual experience during early life and is associated with abnormal binocular interactions, interocular suppression, orientation-dependent developmental abnormalities in selected refractive phenotypes, and experience-dependent plasticity, consistent with a distributed-network perspective rather than a purely monocular acuity deficit. We performed a structured state-of-the-art narrative synthesis of peer-reviewed reviews, randomized controlled trials, and key mechanistic human studies indexed in PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Scopus (1 January 2016–28 February 2026; last search 28 February 2026), prioritizing recent evidence from 2021–2026. Literature supports consideration of clinically trackable constructs beyond best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), including quantified suppression/imbalance, binocular function, and functionally meaningful outcomes such as reading-related limitation and broader functional impact. Across established and emerging intervention classes, treatment effects are heterogeneous across ages and etiologies. Evidence is strongest for conventional penalization and selected active training-based approaches, whereas newer protocol-standardized approaches remain investigational and require prospective evaluation with transparent exposure/dose reporting. Based on these findings, we outline a clinically oriented, core outcome set for amblyopia and strabismus (COSAMS)-aligned framework that combines quantified binocular imbalance with multidimensional phenotyping and a hypothesis-driven, prospectively testable therapeutic model intended to structure (not replace) clinical decision-making. Priorities for precision-oriented amblyopia care include standardization of suppression metrics, adoption of core outcome sets, transparent reporting of ‘not measurable’ outcomes and missingness, and prospective validation of phenotype-driven, prediction-ready frameworks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Brain Plasticity in Health and Disease: From Molecules to Circuits)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

25 pages, 1165 KB  
Review
Multiple Roles of Cannabinoids in the Olfactory System
by Thomas Heinbockel and Edward A. Brown
Brain Sci. 2026, 16(2), 190; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci16020190 - 5 Feb 2026
Viewed by 1238
Abstract
The endocannabinoid system is a ubiquitous neuromodulatory network that links internal physiological state to neural circuit function across the brain. While its roles in memory, reward, pain, and motor control are well established, its contribution to olfactory processing has only recently gained attention. [...] Read more.
The endocannabinoid system is a ubiquitous neuromodulatory network that links internal physiological state to neural circuit function across the brain. While its roles in memory, reward, pain, and motor control are well established, its contribution to olfactory processing has only recently gained attention. This review synthesizes the current knowledge on the anatomical, cellular, and functional interactions between the endocannabinoid system and the olfactory pathway, from the olfactory epithelium and main olfactory bulb to higher order cortical targets. We highlight how endocannabinoid signaling, primarily via cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1), shapes synaptic transmission within olfactory bulb microcircuits, modulates centrifugal feedback, and adjusts sensory gain in a state-dependent manner, particularly in relation to hunger, feeding behavior, stress, and reward. In addition, we review evidence that the endocannabinoid system regulates olfactory neurodevelopment and adult neurogenesis by influencing neural stem cell proliferation, migration, and integration into existing circuits. Emerging links between endocannabinoid signaling, olfactory dysfunction, neuropsychiatric disease, metabolic disorders, and neurodegeneration underscore the translational relevance of this system. We also discuss methodological challenges inherent to studying endocannabinoid signaling and outline future directions, including circuit-specific targeting and intranasal delivery strategies. Together, these findings position the olfactory system as a powerful and accessible model for understanding how endocannabinoids couple internal state to perception and behavior, with important implications for therapeutic development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Brain Plasticity in Health and Disease: From Molecules to Circuits)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-2
Back to TopTop