Dear Colleagues,

This special issue of the Journal of Integrative Neuroscience addresses critical knowledge gaps in neuroplasticity mechanisms underlying learning, memory, and emotional regulation, and their disruption in disease. While long-term potentiation and depression are well-characterized, key questions remain about how adult-born neurons integrate into existing circuits to support pattern separation and cognitive flexibility, how non-neuronal cells (astrocytes, microglia, oligodendrocytes) regulate synaptic plasticity through neurotransmitter clearance and immune signaling, and how epigenetic modifications and chromatin remodeling drive impairments in age-related plasticity. This issue emphasizes understudied areas, including the coordination of structural plasticity (dendritic remodeling, spine dynamics) with functional plasticity, circuit-level mechanisms linking emotional and cognitive processing, stress-induced alterations in neuroplasticity, and disease-specific pathological mechanisms in Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety disorders. We invite original research, comprehensive reviews, and innovative methodological approaches advancing therapeutic interventions.

We look forward to your contributions!

Prof. Changjong Moon and Assoc. Prof. Mary Jasmin Ang
Guest Editors