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Recent progress in the formation of artificial gametes, i.e. gametes generated by manipulation of their progenitors or of somatic cells, has led to scientific and societal discussion about their use in medically assisted reproduction (MAR). Artificial gametes could potentially help infertile men and women but also post-menopausal women and gay couples conceive genetically related children. This systematic review aimed to provide insight in the progress of biological research towards clinical application of artificial gametes.

The electronic database ‘Medline/Pubmed’ was systematically searched with medical subject heading (MesH) terms, and reference lists of eligible studies were hand searched. Studies in English between January 1970 and December 2013 were selected based on meeting a priori defined starting- and end-points of gamete …