ARTs in action in nonhuman primates: Symposium summary – advances and remaining issues

It is clear from the presentations at this symposium that Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) in nonhuman primates have made substantial progress since 1984, when the first reports appeared of successful births following in vitro fertilization (IVF) [ 1 , 2 ]. It can truly be said that nonhuman primate ARTs have "come of age" because these births occurred 21 years ago (Figure 1 ). Initial research efforts were almost entirely directed at establishing appropriate culture conditions for in vitro production (IVP) of monkey embryos, and subsequently at devising workable embryo transfer techniques. The latter efforts illustrate one of the significant differences between macaque and human IVP in its broadest sense (embryo production and births). Although several species of nonhuman primate have been used to study ARTs, the great majority of studies have been with the rhesus macaque, Macaca mulatta, because it is (or was) widely available and because of its general similarity to humans. However, with the heavy emphasis on the use of rhesus monkeys for AIDS-related research during the past ten years, limited availability of animals is restricting reproductive research efforts, almost to the point of blocking research in some cases.