Editorial: epilepsy and neurodevelopmental diseases

The association between epilepsy and neurodevelopmental diseases is well-recognized and has gained significant attention in the field of neuroscience in recent years. One of the main reasons for this interest is the need for a better understanding of the events that lead to the development and maturation of the CNS. This is a fundamental and necessary basis for potential breakthrough strategies that could guide novel and more effective disease-modifying therapeutic approaches to neurodevelopmental syndromes that are frequently characterized by severe and drug-resistant epilepsy. The perspective of such new therapeutic strategies is very promising. At the state-of-theart, patients afflicted by these rare neurodevelopmental disorders mostly rely on “symptomatic” approaches that mitigate seizures and other major symptoms but do not target the underlying biological causes of the disease. The study of this vast field of research is extremely complex and requires a multidisciplinary approach, from neuropathological to molecular and functional studies since even “simple” triggering events (e.g., a genetic mutation) during critical periods of brain development can lead to widespread effects on brain morphological and functional features.