The Living Interface: Neural Membranes as Gatekeepers of Communication and Disease

Neuronal membranes are much more than structural barriers: they are living interfaces—dynamic platforms enabling signaling, ion transport, energy conversion, and synaptic communication. The unique lipid–protein architecture at the heart of these membranes orchestrates a vast array of neural processes, from neurotransmitter release and receptor trafficking to synaptic remodeling. This makes them essential for cellular homeostasis and brain circuit plasticity alike. The past decade has ushered in a revolution. High-resolution structural biology, cutting-edge imaging, and omics technologies have redefined our understanding of neuronal membranes—down to nanometer and millisecond scales. Innovations such as cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), super-resolution microscopy, single-molecule tracking, optogenetics, and state-of-the-art electrophysiological techniques now let us visualize, manipulate, and even reconstruct neuronal membranes in remarkable detail. Completing this toolkit, computational science—from molecular dynamics simulations and AI-driven protein modeling to integrative modeling platforms—reveals how membranes fold, gate, and respond to their local environments in both health and disease. Yet, the challenge remains: neuronal membranes are dynamic, heterogeneous, and span multiple scales of space and time. Connecting atomic-level conformational states of ion channels, transporters, and receptors to higher-order phenomena like excitability, plasticity, and circuit dynamics demands integrative, cross-disciplinary research. Furthermore, as we uncover the membrane’s role in conditions from channelopathies and neurodegeneration to epilepsy and psychiatric disease, the urgency for translatable breakthroughs has never been more pressing. Simultaneously, innovations in synthetic biology and nanotechnology are equipping us to build artificial neural membranes, simulate vesicle cycles, and design biomimetic therapeutics. These advances are turning fundamental discovery into real-world applications—heralding a new era for neuroscience and biomedicine.

This Special Issue seeks to spotlight pioneering research and perspectives that unlock new understanding of neuronal membrane physiology—from the molecular scale to translational application. We welcome integrative approaches that unite structure, dynamics, signaling, and disease relevance. Of special interest are studies blending experimental and computational methods, and those exploring intersections among synaptic membrane biology, medicine, biotechnology, and systems physiology.

We invite submissions in the forms of original research articles, reviews, perspectives, and methodological reports. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

1. Tracing Synaptic Lipid Peroxidation: From membrane instability to neurodegenerative disease
2. Lipid Rafts in the Nervous System: Drivers of synaptic remodeling, neurodegeneration, and rejuvenation
3. Calcium-Sensing Receptor Signaling: Linking renal regulation with neural membrane function
4. Ion Transporters in Health and Disease: Guardians of colonic and neural homeostasis
5. Ion Channels and Synaptic Communication: Gating, selectivity, and neurotransmitter release
6. Membrane Protein Architecture: Insights from cryo-EM, NMR, molecular dynamics, and AI
7. Lipid–Protein Crosstalk: Membrane composition, curvature, and synaptic signaling
8. Organelle Membrane Interfaces: ER, mitochondria, lysosomes, and synaptic vesicles in cell communication
9. Next-Generation Membrane Methodologies: Imaging, electrophysiology, biophysical probes, and computational tools
10. Neural Membrane Dysfunction: Channelopathies, synaptic failure, and neurodegenerative disorders
11. Integrative Perspectives: Neural membrane physiology from molecular mechanisms to neuroscience translation
12. Synthetic and Biomimetic Membranes: Engineering neural-inspired therapeutic delivery and biosensing platforms

Join Us at the Leading Edge!
We warmly welcome contributions from neuroscientists, biophysicists, cell biologists, computational modelers, synthetic biologists, engineers, and clinicians. Whether you work at the bench, in silico, or at the bedside, your insights are vital for shaping this rapidly evolving field.

Article types and fees

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

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

Keywords: Neuronal Membranes, Lipid–Protein Interactions, Synaptic Plasticity, Ion Channels and Transporters, Membrane Dynamics, Structural Biology, Computational Modeling, Neurodegeneration, Channelopathies, Synthetic and Biomimetic Membranes, Membrane Signaling and Homeostasis, Synaptic Vesicle Recycling, Synaptic Homeostasis, Synaptic Stability, Synaptic Morphogenesis

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.