Infertility affects approximately 15–20% of individuals of reproductive age worldwide. Over the last 40 years, assisted reproductive technology (ART) has helped millions of childless couples. However, ART is limited by a low success rate and risk of multiple gestations. Devising methods for selecting the best gamete or embryo that increases the ART success rate and prevention of multiple gestation has become one of the key goals in ART today. Special emphasis has been placed on the development of non-invasive approaches, which do not require perturbing the embryonic cells, as the current morphology-based embryo selection approach has shortcomings in predicting the implantation potential of embryos. An observed association between embryo metabolism and viability has prompted researchers to develop metabolomics-based biomarkers. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy provides a non-invasive approach for the metabolic profiling of tissues, gametes and embryos, with the key advantage of having a minimal sample preparation procedure. Using NMR spectroscopy, biologically important molecules can be identified and quantified in intact cells, extracts or secretomes. This, in turn, helps to map out the active metabolic pathways in a system. The present review covers the contribution of NMR spectroscopy in assisted reproduction at various stages of the process.

不孕不育症影响着全世界大约 15-20% 的育龄人口。过去 40 年来，辅助生殖技术 (ART) 帮助了数百万无子女的夫妇。然而，ART 受到成功率低和多胎妊娠风险的限制。设计选择最佳配子或胚胎的方法，以提高 ART 成功率并预防多胎妊娠已成为当今 ART 的关键目标之一。特别强调了非侵入性方法的开发，这种方法不需要扰乱胚胎细胞，因为当前基于形态的胚胎选择方法在预测胚胎的植入潜力方面存在缺陷。观察到的胚胎代谢和活力之间的关联促使研究人员开发基于代谢组学的生物标志物。核磁共振 (NMR) 光谱为组织、配子和胚胎的代谢分析提供了一种非侵入性方法，其主要优点是样品制备程序最少。使用核磁共振波谱，可以识别和定量完整细胞、提取物或分泌体中的生物学重要分子。这反过来又有助于绘制系统中活跃的代谢途径。本综述涵盖了核磁共振波谱在辅助生殖过程各个阶段的贡献。