Artificial insemination: the state of the art.

The history of research into artificial insemination (AI) is over two centuries old and its commercial application now spans 75 years. It is appropriate to reflect on the contribution of this powerful method of gene dispersal. AI remains as one of the most important assisted reproductive technologies. The three cornerstones for its application are: it is simple, economical and successful. The importance of AI will be challenged in the next few decades. The remarkable progress made in other assisted reproductive technologies does have the potential to rapidly generate offspring. The challenge for any of these reproductive technologies to attain widespread use is to match AI in being simple, economical and successful. This review aims at capturing the salient advances in AI, the comparisons with natural mating and other reproductive technologies, and, whether the future of AI will be challenged. It predicts what the new horizon looks like and the role that AI will play in the overall reproductive technologies landscape.