A research group at Tohoku University has clarified the effect of coordinated swimming, which increases the speed and efficiency of swimming by gathering sperm and swimming.
Sperm must swim about 3000 times their length to achieve fertilization.This time, as a result of analyzing the fluid interaction between moving sperms and sperms by simulation based on the law of mechanics, the researchers found that multiple sperms can gather and swim (coordinated swimming) to swim quickly and efficiently. I found that.
This is because the "liquid flow" created by the swimming of sperms boosts the movement of other sperms, and has the effect of enhancing each other's swimming. As a result of the increase, it was found that the probability of fertilization increased.This is the first result of revealing the natural mechanism by which sperms swim to help each other to achieve fertilization by running long distances quickly and reliably.
It is said that about half of couples suffering from infertility are caused by the male side, and in recent years, the importance of testing and treating male-derived infertility (male infertility) has increased.In the state of oligospermia, which is one of the causes, it has been thought that the probability of fertilization decreases due to good motility but low sperm count. It turned out to be influential.
On the other hand, since the cooperative swimming effect can be obtained even when the sperm count is low and the density is high, it is also suggested that the semen of oligospermia patients may be able to enhance sperm motility by using cooperative swimming.This is expected to further advance the development of infertility treatment methods for patients with oligospermia.
Paper information:[Physics of Fluids] Elasto-hydrodynamic interaction of two swimming spermatozoa
