Intrauterine environment-genome interaction and children's development (3): Assisted reproductive technologies and developmental disorders.

In vitro fertilization (IVF) and other assisted reproductive technologies (ART) are widely used clinically as infertility treatments. Although ART procedures are generally considered safe, some studies have suggested an increase in the occurrence of major malformations and some other complications in babies conceived by ART. Further, it has recently been suggested that ART are associated with imprinting disorders in the offspring such as Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome and Angelman syndrome. We review the human and animal studies investigating the outcome of ART pregnancies and discuss the potential risk of ART to pre- and perinatal development.