Synaptic Plasticity Across the Lifespan: Mechanisms, Adaptation, and Vulnerability

Synaptic plasticity is a fundamental property of the brain that underlies learning, memory, and adaptive responses to environmental stimuli. During development, plasticity shapes neural circuits, enabling functional specialization and cognitive maturation. In adulthood, it supports experience-dependent changes, while during aging, synaptic adaptability often declines, contributing to cognitive impairments. However, plasticity can also become maladaptive, leading to neurodevelopmental disorders, neurodegeneration, or psychiatric conditions.



This Research Topic aims to explore the dynamic nature of synaptic plasticity from early brain development to aging and senescence, with an emphasis on mechanisms, compensatory adaptations, and vulnerabilities. We seek to bridge basic and clinical research to provide a comprehensive view of how synapses change across different life stages. Understanding how plasticity is regulated, maintained, and sometimes dysregulated remains a fundamental challenge in neuroscience, with significant implications for brain health and disease.



This Research Topic invites contributions that explore synaptic plasticity as a dynamic process shaping the brain throughout life. We welcome original research, reviews, and perspectives that examine the molecular, cellular, and circuit level mechanisms driving plasticity in neurodevelopment, adulthood, and aging, both in health and disease. We are particularly interested in studies that investigate how synaptic remodeling during development influences cognition and behavior, as well as the mechanisms that maintain or disrupt plasticity in adulthood, from experience-dependent adaptations to neuropsychiatric conditions. Aging introduces another layer of complexity, where plasticity may serve as both a resilience factor and a point of vulnerability to cognitive decline and neurodegeneration. Work exploring the role of neurotransmitters, glial interactions, and signaling pathways in shaping synaptic dynamics is highly relevant, as are translational approaches that explore how targeting plasticity could inform therapeutic strategies. Interdisciplinary perspectives that integrate molecular, electrophysiological, imaging, and behavioral approaches are encouraged, fostering a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that govern synaptic adaptability over time.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: synaptic plasticity, neural circuit remodeling, neurogenesis, glia-neuron interactions, neurodevelopment, aging brain, neurodegeneration, neurodevelopmental disorders, synaptopathies

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.