The development of artificial grafts that may recapitulate the tissue microarchitecture is one of the most ambitious and complex approaches to understanding molecular mechanisms in an in vitro controlled microenvironment or even to regenerating or restoring tissue homeostasis in vivo. In this context, tissue-engineering methodologies that associate several cell types, biomaterials of multiple sources, and bioactive stimulation have been applied to mimic morphophysiological systems of several organs and tissues. More recently, such approaches have been proposed to reproductive tissues to restore fertility, elucidate mechanisms related to gestational loss and gamete incompetence, and enhance in vitro-assisted reproduction efficiency. Based on that, biomimetic microenvironments that provide structural and functional support for oocyte maturation, and embryo development and stimulate reproductive tissue regeneration are among the main future achievements of bioengineering in this area.

Differently from other tissues and organs, reproductive tissues, male and female, have a larger plasticity and tissue remodeling due to cycle hormonal stimulation, which makes their tissue microenvironments more difficult to recapitulate and highly susceptible to environmental nuances. Due to this intense interference and molecular cascade, several mechanisms related to infertility and gestational losses remain unclear. In addition, once these tissues are injured, due to their histoarchitecture, the repair is more complex, which leads to tissue degeneration or fibrosis, impairing their functions. Because of this scenario, new approaches are necessary to improve the regeneration and repair of those tissues and to develop new methodologies to produce and culture gametes or even embryos to improve successful gestational rates. Recent studies exploring stem cells, biomaterials, new supplementation media, or even artificial in vitro systems have been proposed. However, reproductive tissue engineering is still in its infancy, requiring more efforts to design more refined methodologies, mainly in a world with the need for more efficient production of livestock and drastic drops in population fertility and birth rates.

Types of manuscripts that this research topic is prospecting include Original Research and Perspective articles about novel bioengineering approaches for reproductive science and Review articles that gather the main advances in the reproductive tissue engineering field in Human and Veterinary Medicine.

Main topics to be included in this collection:
- Development of artificial and biomimetic reproductive microenvironments;
- Scaffolds for reproductive tissue engineering and regenerative medicine;
- Bioengineering approaches for gametes production and embryo development;
- In vivo approaches to restore reproductive capacity in animal models or humans;
- Interaction between biomaterials and cells in the reproductive context.

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Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology

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