Novel Pathways in Reproductive Biology: Calcium Signaling, Mitochondrial Dysfunction, and Inflammatory Pathways.

Reproductive success depends on precisely coordinated molecular and cellular signaling across sperm function, oocyte maturation, fertilization, and early embryogenesis. Disruption of core regulatory systems—particularly calcium signaling, mitochondrial homeostasis and quality control, and stress/inflammatory signaling networks—can impair gamete competence, embryo viability, and reproductive tissue function, contributing to infertility, pregnancy loss, and reproductive aging. Aligned under Molecular and Cellular Reproduction, this Research Topic will showcase mechanistic and translational studies that define emerging pathways linking intracellular signaling to reproductive phenotypes across sexes and developmental stages.A central emphasis will be how cellular stress is converted into inflammatory outputs within reproductive contexts. We particularly welcome work on sterile inflammation and immunometabolic signaling triggered by mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and environmental exposures, and how these pathways reshape reproductive cell function and tissue microenvironments. This includes, for example, cytokine and prostaglandin signaling, NF-κB–linked responses, and inflammasome-relevant mechanisms as downstream effectors of cellular stress, with relevance to reproductive aging (“inflammaging”) and disease-associated dysfunction.We welcome original research, methods, and focused reviews across model organisms, mammalian systems, and human-relevant in vitro platforms that address (but are not limited to): (i) Ca2+2+ signaling and ion channels in reproduction (including sperm hyperactivation and oocyte activation); (ii) mitochondrial dysfunction and quality control (bioenergetics, ROS/redox signaling, dynamics, mitophagy/autophagy–lysosome pathways, mtDNA integrity); (iii) stress-to-inflammation coupling in reproductive cells and tissues (sterile inflammation, immunometabolism, cytokine/prostaglandin signaling, NF-κB/inflammasome-relevant pathways, inflammaging); (iv) genome stability and cell-cycle regulation in oocytes and embryos (spindle defects, cohesion/kinetochore mechanisms, drivers of aneuploidy); (v) environmental and iatrogenic stressors (endocrine disruptors, micro-/nanoplastics, cannabinoids, persistent pollutants, irradiation) and mechanistic links to reproductive dysfunction; and (vi) enabling technologies (CRISPR/functional genetics, live imaging, single-cell/spatial -omics, chromatin profiling, advanced 3D and primary-cell reproductive models). Topic editors: Valentina Di Nisio, Mansour Aboelenain Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/78128/novel-pathways-in-reproductive-biology-calcium-signaling-mitochondrial-dysfunction-and-inflammatory-pathways