Dear Colleagues,

The main causes of reproductive dysfunction that often lead to infertility are impairment of spermatogenesis, folliculogenesis, and testicular and ovarian steroidogenesis. Current approaches for the correction of male infertility include gonadotropin and androgen replacement therapy, and treatment with anti-estrogen and aromatase inhibitors. Treatments for female infertility include the use of ovulation inducers (clomiphene citrate, gonadotropins), aromatase inhibitors, myoinositol, and dopamine secretion inhibitors. Strategies that involve the use of GnRH and gonadotropins are also used in assisted reproductive technologies (ART). Newly developed approaches for the treatment of infertility include stem cells, genome editing with CRISPR/Cas technology, and the use of small-molecule regulators and modulators of gonadotropin receptors, gonadoliberin, and kisspeptin.

The main topics covered in this Special Issue are: (1) molecular mechanisms underlying the normal regulation of folliculogenesis and spermatogenesis, as well as their impairment in pathology; (2) endogenous and pharmacological regulators of ovarian and testicular steroidogenesis, folliculogenesis and spermatogenesis, including their targets and mechanisms; (3) induction of ovulation in ART: molecular basis, pharmacological agents and epigenetic aspects; (4) the use of allosteric regulators of GnRH and gonadotropin receptors for the correction of reproductive dysfunction and for ART; (5) genome editing technology in the treatment of infertility; (6) the use of stem cells to correct impaired spermatogenesis and folliculogenesis. The content of the Special Issue is not limited to these topics, however.

Authors are invited to submit original and review articles for publication in this Special Issue New approaches in the study of steroidogenesis, folliculogenesis and spermatogenesis: from molecular mechanisms to pharmacological efficiency.

Prof. Dr. Alexander Shpakov

Guest Editor