Abstract Critical to brain development is the proper growth and maturation of the axons underlying neuronal circuitry and communication throughout the nervous system. During development, the axon undergoes a remarkable process of outgrowth from the cell body, elongation, pathfinding to its target, differentiation of its synaptic junction, and establishment of connections with dendritic and/or somatic synapses. In the human brain, the most dramatic period of axonal development is midgestation to the end of the second year of life (., the period when the brain itself attains approximately 80% of its adult weight). During this period, the developing axon is especially vulnerable to different types of injury as it.
