About this Research Topic
The role of metabolism in neurodegenerative diseases is emerging as an area of etiopathological interest. Defining the differential alterations in metabolic pathways for a variety of neurological disorders has become an increasingly accessible option for investigators and clinicians. The exponential growth of metabolomic analyses and their relevant scientific literature within the clinical neurosciences over the last decade provides evidence of the utility of such approaches in distinguishing between health and disease and in defining potentially targetable disease mechanisms. Differentially dysregulated levels of metabolites represent the temporal output and unique expression of the genome, epigenome, transcriptome, and proteome. Such neurologically relevant metabolic information is becoming increasingly available through a variety of advanced technologies that feature specialized imaging technologies (e.g., magnetic resonance spectroscopy), mass spectrometry- or H1-nuclear magnetic resonance (H1-NMR)-based methods, that allow interrogation of readily accessible clinical matrices (e.g., blood, cerebrospinal fluid, saliva, and urine). The relatively unbiased, high throughput, quantitative metabolomic analysis options provided via the mass spectrometry-based methods, and applicability to a variety of biofluids and tissues have increased their general applicability in clinical neuroscience investigations. In this Research Topic, we aim to provide the readership of Frontiers in Neurology with a variety of clinically relevant articles indicating how metabolic disruptions associated with diverse neurological disorders can be effectively determined, and how this information may be germane to exploring disease mechanisms, determining prognosis, monitoring therapy, and defining novel therapeutic approaches. The scope of the Research Topic should provide broad interest to readers since it spans multiple specialty sections including Brain Imaging Methods, Movement Disorders, Neurodegeneration, Neuro-oncology, and Neurotrauma. It is hoped that this Research Topic will be relevant to readers and provide increasing familiarity with the important investigations utilizing metabolism biomarkers in neurological disorders.
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.
