MINI REVIEW article
Front. Synaptic Neurosci.
Volume 17 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnsyn.2025.1672646
This article is part of the Research TopicGrey Matters in the Lab: Utilizing Human Brain Tissue for Basic Research, Disease Modeling and Drug DevelopmentView all articles
Exploring the singularity of human neurons: keep calm and carry on
Provisionally accepted
- Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, Developmental Biology Institute of Marseille (IBDM), NeuroMarseille, Marseille, France
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The human brain's increased cognitive abilities are underpinned by evolutionary adaptations at the molecular, cellular, and circuit levels of neural structures. This perspective explores how protracted neuronal development and divergent cell intrinsic neuronal properties, including neuronal excitability, contribute to human neurobiological singularity. Those cellular aspects rely on molecular evolutionary innovations, including evolution of gene regulation and gene duplications that play critical roles in prolonging synaptogenesis and reducing neuronal excitability. These molecular evolutionary innovations are shown to interact with core neurodevelopmental molecular pathways linked to neurodevelopmental disorders. Furthermore, complementary multimodal and multiscale approaches offer promising platforms to study these processes and develop species-relevant therapeutic strategies. They include ex vivo acute brain slices and organotypic cultures which offer emerging tools for understanding human species-specificities and neural disorders.
Keywords: human brain evolution, neuronal development and maturation, human gene duplicates, cis-regulatory elements, Neuronal excitability, Cerebral Cortex, Ex vivo brain sections, Neurodevelopmental disorders
Received: 24 Jul 2025; Accepted: 28 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Libé-Philippot. 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) or licensor 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.
* Correspondence: Baptiste Libé-Philippot, Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, Developmental Biology Institute of Marseille (IBDM), NeuroMarseille, Marseille, France
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