{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,20]],"date-time":"2025-12-20T22:02:01Z","timestamp":1766268121519,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":56,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,6]],"date-time":"2025-06-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1749168000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Neural Circuits"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Traumatic brain injury (TBI) induces a wide range of neurodegenerative symptoms, yet effective treatment strategies remain limited. Emerging evidence suggests that post-TBI recovery recapitulates aspects of early brain development, highlighting the potential for developmental molecular mechanisms to inform therapeutic interventions. The transcription factor <jats:italic>Otx2<\/jats:italic> is critical for early brain and sensory organ development, as well as the maintenance of retinal and neural function in adulthood. Notably, the transfer of <jats:italic>Otx2<\/jats:italic> homeoprotein into parvalbumin-expressing (PV+) GABAergic interneurons is essential for opening and closing critical periods of plasticity across vertebrates. Here, we investigate the acute regulation of <jats:italic>Otx2<\/jats:italic> mRNA following TBI in adult zebra finches (ZF) to evaluate its potential as a target for future study and therapeutic manipulation in neural repair. Adult ZFs sustained unilateral hemispheric brain injuries, and qPCR was used to quantify <jats:italic>Otx2<\/jats:italic> mRNA expression at 24 hours and 1 week post-injury in both males and females. Our findings reveal a significant downregulation of <jats:italic>Otx2<\/jats:italic> mRNA expression following injury, highlighting <jats:italic>Otx2<\/jats:italic> as a potential target for further investigation and manipulation. These results provide insight into the molecular response to brain injury and suggest a potential link between developmental pathways and post-injury plasticity.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fncir.2025.1591983","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,6]],"date-time":"2025-06-06T05:22:19Z","timestamp":1749187339000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Otx2 mRNA expression is downregulated following traumatic brain injury in zebra finches"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Adam","family":"Talwalkar","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kelli A.","family":"Duncan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"14964","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.4812-10.2010","article-title":"Removing brakes on adult brain plasticity: from molecular to behavioral interventions","volume":"30","author":"Bavelier","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. 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