Strictures of a microchannel impose fierce competition to select for highly motile sperm

Science Advances
Meisam ZaferaniAlireza Abbaspourrad

Abstract

Investigating sperm locomotion in the presence of external fluid flow and geometries simulating the female reproductive tract can lead to a better understanding of sperm motion during fertilization. Using a microfluidic device featuring a stricture that simulates the fluid mechanical properties of narrow junctions inside the female reproductive tract, we documented the gate-like role played by the stricture in preventing sperm with motilities below a certain threshold from advancing through the stricture to the other side (i.e., fertilization site). All the slower sperm accumulate below (i.e., in front of) the stricture and swim in a butterfly-shaped path between the channel walls, thus maintaining the potential for penetrating the stricture and ultimately advancing toward the fertilization site. Accumulation below the stricture occurs in a hierarchical manner so that dense concentrations of sperm with higher velocities remain closer to the stricture, with more sparsely distributed arrays of lower-velocity sperm lagging behind.

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Aug 1, 2018·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Meisam ZaferaniAlireza Abbaspourrad

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Citations

May 17, 2019·Lab on a Chip·Jason RiordonDavid Sinton
Dec 7, 2019·Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology·MariaPortia B NagataKenichi Yamashita
Nov 9, 2019·Physical Review Letters·Quentin BrosseauMichael J Shelley
Jan 30, 2020·Biology of Reproduction·Bingbing WuWei Li
Feb 14, 2021·Journal of Biomechanics·Toru HyakutakeYasutaka Hayamizu
May 14, 2021·Lab on a Chip·Mohammad SimchiDavid Sinton
Jun 10, 2021·Lab on a Chip·Mohammad YaghoobiAlireza Abbaspourrad
Jun 10, 2021·Nature Communications·Mohammad Reza RaveshiReza Nosrati
Jun 3, 2021·Nature Reviews. Urology·Changsheng DaiYu Sun
Oct 31, 2021·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Meisam ZaferaniAlireza Abbaspourrad

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
chip

Software Mentioned

MATLAB
COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS
ImageJ

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