PET PET
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
Become a Friend Donate
  • About Us
    • People
    • Press Office
    • Our History
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Friend of PET
    • Volunteer
    • Campaigns
    • Writing Scheme
    • Partnership and Sponsorship
    • Advertise with Us
  • Donate
    • Become a Friend of PET
  • BioNews
    • News
    • Comment
    • Reviews
    • Elsewhere
    • Topics
    • Glossary
    • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
  • Engagement
    • Policy and Projects
      • Resources
    • Education
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
    • People
    • Press Office
    • Our History
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Friend of PET
    • Volunteer
    • Campaigns
    • Writing Scheme
    • Partnership and Sponsorship
    • Advertise with Us
  • Donate
    • Become a Friend of PET
  • BioNews
    • News
    • Comment
    • Reviews
    • Elsewhere
    • Topics
    • Glossary
    • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
  • Engagement
    • Policy and Projects
      • Resources
    • Education
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements
PETBioNewsNewsStrength in numbers: sperm swim upstream 'in a shoal'

BioNews

Strength in numbers: sperm swim upstream 'in a shoal'

Published 2 June 2014 posted in News and appears in BioNews 756

Author

Dr Molly Godfrey

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.

Sperm cells swim very efficiently when moving upstream against a current and may cooperate whilst doing so, scientists have observed....

Sperm cells swim very efficiently when moving upstream against a current and may cooperate whilst doing so, scientists have observed.

Researchers found that when sperm cells are faced with a current, they swim in a spiralling motion, rather than in a straight line, and move towards where the current is slowest. This causes the cells to accumulate in groups, swimming in shoals.

This challenges the commonly held belief that sperm cells compete to reach the egg cell first. 'There could actually be cooperation among these cells that allows them to swim faster collectively', said Dr Jörn Dunkel, lead researcher on the study.

Hundreds of millions of sperm cells enter the oviduct, or Fallopian tube, however only a select few will reach the egg. They have to cover distances more than 1,000 times their length and navigate complex terrain. To try to understand how sperm cells manage this, researchers set up an artificial 'sperm assault course' in the lab. They used a variety of sizes of channels and forced liquid through them at different speeds. They then measured how sperm cells, which they inserted into the tubes, dealt with these challenges.

Apart from determining that sperm cells group together at the tops of the tubes, a further finding from the study, published in the journal eLife, was that at certain flow speeds, the sperm were very efficient at swimming upstream.  'We found that if you create the right flow velocities, you can observe them swimming upstream for several minutes', said Dr Dunkel. 'The mechanism is very robust'.

The authors believe that similar current speeds to those seen in the lab could be found within the oviduct. The researchers, from MIT in the USA and the University of Cambridge in the UK, claim that if this is the case, this study could help design better artificial insemination techniques.

'The idea would be to fine-tune the properties of the fluid medium that the sperm cells are contained in, before you insert it into the body, so that you know the cells can achieve optimal upstream swimming', said Dr Dunkel.

Sources and References

  • 27/05/2014
    eLife
    Rheotaxis facilitates upstream navigation of mammalian sperm cells
  • 27/05/2014
    BBC News
    Human sperm swim upstream 'in a shoal'
  • 27/05/2014
    EurekAlert! (press release)
    Human sperm extremely efficient at swimming against the current
  • 27/05/2014
    UPI
    Human sperm extremely efficient at swimming against the current

Related Articles

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
22 May 2017 • 2 minutes read

100-year-old method to flush fallopian tubes may cut need for IVF

by Dr Katie Howe

Flushing the fallopian tubes of infertile women with poppyseed oil increases their chances of conceiving, according to a new study...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
27 March 2017 • 2 minutes read

Mathematical formula describes how sperm swim

by Rachel Reeves

The movement of sperm can be explained by a relatively simple mathematical formula, according to new research...

PET BioNews
News
18 January 2016 • 1 minute read

'Spermbots' could speed up slow sperm

by Ayala Ochert

Scientists in Germany have created artificially motorised sperm, propelled by microscopic metal helices...

PET BioNews
News
7 September 2015 • 2 minutes read

Sperm cells attach to eggs with tiny 'harpoons'

by Chris Baldacci

Scientists have discovered that a protein in the head of sperm cells forms spiky filaments, which could act as tiny 'harpoons' that anchor the sperm to an egg...

Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the output from a DNA sequencing machine.
CC BY 4.0
Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the sequencing output from an automated DNA sequencing machine.
News
15 June 2015 • 2 minutes read

Scientists produce sperm inside fish ovaries

by Dr Lucy Freem

Knocking out a single gene in adult female fish causes them to produce sperm inside their ovaries, study results show...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
24 September 2012 • 1 minute read

Sperm swimming patterns revealed by new imaging technology

by Dr Kimberley Bryon-Dodd

Scientists have carried out the first large scale, high-resolution recording of human sperm using a new 3D imaging technique...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
20 August 2012 • 2 minutes read

Daily dose of walnuts slightly but significantly boosts sperm health

by Emma Stoye

Eating two handfuls of walnuts every day can improve sperm quality in healthy young men, researchers have found...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
18 June 2012 • 2 minutes read

Smoking and drinking have little impact on sperm quality but wearing tight pants does, study finds

by Helen Brooks

An unhealthy lifestyle may not affect sperm quality as much as previously thought. A study in the journal Human Reproduction indicates that smoking, high alcohol consumption and being overweight all have little effect on semen quality...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
15 May 2012 • 2 minutes read

Sperm collide and crawl the walls in chaotic journey to egg

by Dr Vikki Burchell

In sex education videos the race of sperm to the egg is portrayed like an Olympic swimming final as sperm surge purposefully down the female reproductive tract to the finish line. The reality, however, may be rather less elegant...

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

« Genetic test for heart condition rolled out across UK

Data-Label The UK's Leading Supplier Of Medical Labels & Asset Labels


easyfundraising
amazon

This month in News

  • Popular
  • Recent
20 November 2023 • 3 minutes read

HFEA publishes recommendations for reform of fertility law

13 November 2023 • 2 minutes read

Four BRCA mutation carriers undergo removal of ovaries during C-section 

13 November 2023 • 2 minutes read

Frequent mobile phone use linked to lower sperm count in young men

6 November 2023 • 3 minutes read

Health Council of the Netherlands recommends doubling the 14-day limit on embryo research

30 October 2023 • 2 minutes read

Government to scrap additional IVF screening for same-sex couples

27 November 2023 • 2 minutes read

Research into gene therapy reveals blood cancer risk

27 November 2023 • 2 minutes read

Polish Parliament debates reinstatement of state IVF funding

27 November 2023 • 2 minutes read

Over 100,000 DNA evidence samples must be re-tested in Australia

27 November 2023 • 2 minutes read

Childhood autism associated with infertility in parents

27 November 2023 • 2 minutes read

Unintended consequence of CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing discovered

Subscribe to BioNews and other PET updates for free.

Subscribe
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Wellcome
Website redevelopment supported by Wellcome.

Website by Impact Media Impact Media

  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements

© 1992 - 2023 Progress Educational Trust. All rights reserved.

Limited company registered in England and Wales no 07405980 • Registered charity no 1139856

Subscribe to BioNews and other PET updates for free.

Subscribe
PET PET

PET is an independent charity that improves choices for people affected by infertility and genetic conditions.

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Wellcome
Website redevelopment supported by Wellcome.

Navigation

  • About Us
  • Get Involved
  • Donate
  • BioNews
  • Events
  • Engagement
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us

BioNews

  • News
  • Comment
  • Reviews
  • Elsewhere
  • Topics
  • Glossary
  • Newsletters

Other

  • My Account
  • Subscribe

Website by Impact Media Impact Media

  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements

© 1992 - 2023 Progress Educational Trust. All rights reserved.

Limited company registered in England and Wales no 07405980 • Registered charity no 1139856