Human sperm rheotaxis: a passive physical process

Human sperm rheotaxis: a passive physical process.

A long-standing question in natural reproduction is how mammalian sperm navigate inside female reproductive tract and finally reach the egg cell, or oocyte. Recently, fluid flow was proposed as a long-range guidance cue for sperm navigation. Coitus induces fluid flow from oviduct to uterus, and sperm align themselves against the flow direction and swim upstream, a phenomenon termed rheotaxis. W...

Rheotaxis Guides Mammalian Sperm

BACKGROUND In sea urchins, spermatozoan motility is altered by chemotactic peptides, giving rise to the assumption that mammalian eggs also emit chemotactic agents that guide spermatozoa through the female reproductive tract to the mature oocyte. Mammalian spermatozoa indeed undergo complex adaptations within the female (the process of capacitation) that are initiated by agents ranging from pH ...

Fluid flow and sperm guidance: a simulation study of hydrodynamic sperm rheotaxis.

How does a sperm find its way? The study of guidance cues has fascinated sperm biologists and in particular the prospect of rheotaxis, that is a fluid flow orienting the direction of sperm swimming, has been the subject of extensive recent study, as readily motivated by the prospect that such guidance may be active in the mammalian female reproductive tract. For instance, it has been hypothesiz...

Rheotaxis facilitates upstream navigation of mammalian sperm cells

A major puzzle in biology is how mammalian sperm maintain the correct swimming direction during various phases of the sexual reproduction process. Whilst chemotaxis may dominate near the ovum, it is unclear which cues guide spermatozoa on their long journey towards the egg. Hypothesized mechanisms range from peristaltic pumping to temperature sensing and response to fluid flow variations (rheot...

Rheotaxis in Planaria Alpina