Endocytosis is a fundamental mechanism by which all eukaryotic cells control their plasma membrane composition. Membrane recycling allows cells to control several processes, including cell signaling, cell adhesion, and cell-cell communication. Endocytic mechanisms involve a broad range of protein-protein and protein-phospholipid interactions that regulate the formation of endocytic structures like vesicles, tubules, and endosomes that can either redirect cargoes to the plasma membrane or sent them to multi-vesicular bodies for degradation. These pathways are possible thanks to a remarkable diversity of endocytic routes and molecular players that strictly regulate membrane trafficking inside the cell. In neuronal cells endocytosis is essential for the recycling of membrane after neurotransmitter release and plays a critical role during early developmental stages. Moreover, alterations of the endocytic pathway have been attributed a crucial role in the pathophysiology of several neurological diseases ranging from epilepsy and autism to storage disorders and neurodegeneration. Although well characterized at the ultrastructural level, little is known of the dynamics and molecular organization of the neuronal endocytic pathways. In our special issue entitled “Mechanisms of Endocytosis and Membrane Trafficking in Neural Cells”, we propose to share the recent advances regarding the molecular mechanisms of endocytosis and organelle trafficking in neuronal cells and the development of new tools to investigate them.

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