This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2017 J. Mater. Chem. B, 2017, 5, 3617--3628 | 3617 Cite this: J. Mater. Chem. B, 2017, 5, 3617 Periodontal tissue engineering: current strategies and the role of platelet rich hemoderivatives Pedro S. Babo, ab Rui L. Reis ab and Manuela E. Gomes * ab The periodontium is the assembly of tissues that anchor the teeth to the bone and acts like a dumper for the forces originated during the mastication. The integrity and function of periodontal tissue can be compromised by periodontitis. This highly prevalent inflammatory disease is clinically treatable, nevertheless the healing outcomes are not consistent with a functional periodontal tissue. Given the complexity of the tissues involved and the healing process of the periodontal wound, the development of therapies leading to consistent and predictable regeneration of functional periodontal tissues, turns out to be a challenge. Tissue engineering may offer the adequate prospects to address such challenge, which are summarized in this manuscript. Periodontal tissue engineering procures to regenerate the periodontal wound by stimulating the self-healing ability of periodontium. Thus, it should include the right combination of adequate cell types, biochemical stimuli and the provision of a stable matrix to drive the regrowth of both soft and hard periodontal tissue while avoiding the collapse of soft gingival tissue into periodontal wound. The use of hierarchically designed compartmentalized systems has been proposed as a viable strategy for the regeneration of the complex structure of periodontium. Platelet rich hemoderivatives (PRHds) have been explored for periodontal tissue engineering as sources of cytokines and structural proteins involved in the modulation of the wound healing. Here will be described the benefits, limitations and solutions for the application of the PRHds in peridontal tissue engineering. a 3B’s Research Group – Biomaterials, Biodegradables and Biomimetics, University of Minho, Headquarters of the European Institute of Excellence on Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, AvePark, 4805-017 Barco GMR, Portugal. E-mail: megomes@dep.uminho.pt b ICVS/3B’s – PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimara ˜es, Portugal Pedro S. Babo Dr Pedro S. Babo was graduated in Microbial and Genetics Biology by the Faculty of Sciences of University of Lisbon (FCUL) in 2008. In 2009 he completed his masters in Molecular and Genetics Biology at FCUL. After working in studies on the genetics of rice response to abiotic and biotic stress (ITQB, Oeiras, Portugal), Pedro developed his PhD in the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine area in 3B’s research group at University of Minho, with a thesis entitled ‘‘Platelet Lysate-based tissue engineering approaches for periodontal tissue regeneration’’. Currently Pedro S. Babo is developing his research as post-doc at 3B’s research group on the application of platelet lysate for endogenous regenerative therapies. Rui L. Reis Prof. Rui L. Reis is the Director of the 3B’s Research Group, as well as the Director of the PT Government Associate Laboratory ICVS/3B’s, and Full Professor at the Department of Polymer Engineering of UMinho. He is the CEO of the European Institute of Excellence on Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine (TERM). He has produced 856 publications listed in ISI WoK, including around 772 articles published in scientific journals with referee, being 69 of those review papers or editorials. He has published 205 book chapters, 25 patents, and more than 1560 communications in conferences, including around 190 invited and plenary lectures in international meetings. He has an ISI h-factor of 75 (87 according to Google Scholar) and over 23 375 citations. Received 2nd January 2017, Accepted 20th April 2017 DOI: 10.1039/c7tb00010c rsc.li/materials-b Journal of Materials Chemistry B REVIEW