Fundamentals, biological, medical and social aspects of assisted reproductive technologies: history of creation, current state, prospects

The achievements of biology and medicine in recent decades include the creation of assisted reproductive technologies (ART). The main methods of ART are: cryopreservation of male and female germ cells, thawing of gametes, artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization (IVF), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), donation of oocytes and sperm, cultivation of embryos after in vitro fertilization, cryopreservation of embryos, thawing of embryos, preimplantation genetic diagnostics, embryo selection, embryo transfer into the uterus or fallopian tubes, surrogacy. The development of the fundamental principles of ART has a long history. The idea of the possibility of artificial insemination was put forward in the 17th century by A. Leeuwenhoek. Successful transplantations of embryos from the body of one animal to the body of another with the birth of cubs were carried out in the 19th century. In the mid-twentieth century, the results of the development of ART methods received technological significance, and from the middle of the 20th century, ART methods moved into animal husbandry practice. ART entered medical practice in the last quarter of the twentieth century. An outstanding contribution to the introduction of ART in medicine was made by English scientists – veterinarian and physiologist Robert Geoffrey Edwards (1925–2013), who optimized the IVF method for medicine, and obstetrician-gynecologist Patrick Christopher Steptoe (1913–1988), who developed laparoscopic methods for obtaining human eggs. As a result of their activities, in 1978, the first child was born, conceived as a result of IVF and subsequent implantation into the uterus. To date, over 12 million children have been born worldwide using IVF. For example, the number of births after overcoming infertility with the help of ART was 36,008 in Russia in 2019, which is 2,4% of the total number of births in the country. Along with medical aspects, the introduction of ART into medical practice required the adoption of a number of new laws regulating this type of medical activity. Despite the successes achieved, society continues to have an ambiguous attitude towards the introduction of ART into medical practice.