Abstract
<jats:p>The first month of life represents a critical window for brain development, during which rapid and coordinated maturation of neuronal and oligodendroglial networks establishes the foundation for long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes. However, current clinical approaches based on neurological examination and neuroimaging provide only indirect and intermittently accessible measures of these dynamic processes, highlighting the need for minimally invasive biomarkers capable of longitudinal assessment. Extracellular vesicles derived from neurons and oligodendrocytes can be detected in peripheral blood using immunoassays targeting cell-specific markers. We hypothesize that paired analysis of umbilical cord blood at birth and heel-prick blood at one month may enable non-invasive monitoring of early brain development. In this framework, neuron-derived and oligodendrocyte-derived extracellular vesicles reflect gray and white matter maturation, respectively. Longitudinal changes in circulating neuron-derived and oligodendrocyte-derived extracellular vesicles may capture individualized trajectories of early brain development. This approach aims to provide continuous rather than categorical assessment of neonatal brain maturation and may support development of scalable biomarkers for early neurodevelopmental evaluation.</jats:p>