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Influence of Environmental Factors on Human Neurodevelopment
Summary
This review pulls together a decade of research on how things like chemical exposures (including microplastics), pollution, infections, and stress can interfere with brain development—especially during pregnancy, infancy, and puberty, when the brain is growing fastest. These exposures can damage developing brain cells and raise the risk of lasting cognitive problems and mental health or neurodegenerative conditions later in life. The takeaway: protecting babies and kids from these environmental risks during key developmental windows could meaningfully lower rates of brain-related disorders down the road.
BACKGROUND: Neurodevelopment is a multistage process, which determines the formation of cognitive and emotional human potential and is critically sensitive to exogenous factors. This review summarizes data published in 2015–2025 period on the impact of four classes of environmental factors — chemical toxicants, physical stressors, biological agents and socio-behavioral determinants — on prenatal and early postnatal ‘vulnerability windows’ in brain development. Three complementary pathogenetic mechanisms have been identified that mediate the impact on neurons and their precursors: oxidative stress, epigenetic shifts, and apoptosis. A potentially new factor, microplastic, is highlighted. Promising preventive strategies that act at different levels of the nervous system are outlined. AIM: To systematize information on the influence of environmental factors on the development of the human nervous system published in the scientific literature for the period from 2015 to 2025, to substantiate the development of scientifically based preventive and therapeutic measures aimed at maintaining optimal neuroplasticity necessary to reduce the risk of neuropsychiatric disorders. CONCLUSION: Exogenous chemical, physical, biological and social factors influence the neurodevelopment through epigenetic modifications, oxidative stress and apoptosis of neuronal cell precursors. These mechanisms disrupt cell proliferation, migration and integration. The most vulnerable periods are the second trimester of pregnancy, the first two years of life and puberty, with intense neurogenesis and synaptogenesis. Early exposure to combined factors leads to persistent alterations in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus, decline of cognitive functions and increase in the risk of neurodegenerative diseases. Managing these risks and implementing preventive measures to minimize their impact appears to be a reasonable approach capable of reducing the prevalence of neuropsychiatric disorders in the population. The use of multi-omic biomarkers based on machine learning platforms offers promising opportunities for accurately predicting individual risks and implementing effective preventive measures.