Flagellar propulsion of human sperm in cervical mucus¹

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Katz, D.F.^a | Berger, S.A.^b

Affiliations: [a] Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, California 95616 | [b] Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720

Note: [1] Third International Congress of Biorheology. Symposium on Muco-Ciliary Transport

Note: [] Guest Editor’s Contribution Invited by Editor-in-Chief A.L. Copley

Abstract: A new model was developed to characterize the hydrodynamics of the interaction between spermatoza and cervical mucus. In this model the local environment about a length element of a spermatozoon in the mucus is represented as a cell consisting of a Newtonian fluid within a rigid, cylindrical no-slip boundary. Such a cell models the mucous microstructure in the sense of “hydrodynamically equivalent” properties. A simple resistive force theory for sperm hydrodynamics was developed and applied to a human spermatozoon swimming within a mucous cell. The results included the prediction that the drag on the sperm head has a substantial effect on swimming speed. This prediction was tested experimentally, by analyzing high-speed cine films of normal and headless human spermatozoa swimming in mucus. The theoretical result was confirmed, and a cell size of the order of 2 μm was suggested.

DOI: 10.3233/BIR-1980-171-218

Journal: Biorheology, vol. 17, no. 1-2, pp. 169-175, 1980