Two-dimensional slither swimming of sperm within a micrometre of a surface

Sperm motion near surfaces plays a crucial role in fertilization, but the nature of this motion has not been resolved. Using total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy, we selectively imaged motile human and bull sperm located within one micron of a surface, revealing a distinct two-dimension...

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Main Authors: Nosrati, Reza, Driouchi, Amine, Yip, Christopher M., Sinton, David
Format: Online
Language:English
Published: Nature Pub. Group 2015
Online Access:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4667638/
id pubmed-4667638
recordtype oai_dc
spelling pubmed-46676382015-12-10 Two-dimensional slither swimming of sperm within a micrometre of a surface Nosrati, Reza Driouchi, Amine Yip, Christopher M. Sinton, David Article Sperm motion near surfaces plays a crucial role in fertilization, but the nature of this motion has not been resolved. Using total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy, we selectively imaged motile human and bull sperm located within one micron of a surface, revealing a distinct two-dimensional (2D) ‘slither' swimming mode whereby the full cell length (50–80 μm) is confined within 1 μm of a surface. This behaviour is distinct from bulk and near-wall swimming modes where the flagellar wave is helical and the head continuously rotates. The slither mode is intermittent (∼1 s, ∼70 μm), and in human sperm, is observed only for viscosities over 20 mPa·s. Bull sperm are slower in this surface-confined swimming mode, owing to a decrease in their flagellar wave amplitude. In contrast, human sperm are ∼50% faster—suggesting a strategy that is well suited to the highly viscous and confined lumen within the human fallopian tube. Nature Pub. Group 2015-11-10 /pmc/articles/PMC4667638/ /pubmed/26555792 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9703 Text en Copyright © 2015, Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited. All Rights Reserved. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
repository_type Open Access Journal
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building NCBI PubMed
collection Online Access
language English
format Online
author Nosrati, Reza
Driouchi, Amine
Yip, Christopher M.
Sinton, David
spellingShingle Nosrati, Reza
Driouchi, Amine
Yip, Christopher M.
Sinton, David
Two-dimensional slither swimming of sperm within a micrometre of a surface
author_facet Nosrati, Reza
Driouchi, Amine
Yip, Christopher M.
Sinton, David
author_sort Nosrati, Reza
title Two-dimensional slither swimming of sperm within a micrometre of a surface
title_short Two-dimensional slither swimming of sperm within a micrometre of a surface
title_full Two-dimensional slither swimming of sperm within a micrometre of a surface
title_fullStr Two-dimensional slither swimming of sperm within a micrometre of a surface
title_full_unstemmed Two-dimensional slither swimming of sperm within a micrometre of a surface
title_sort two-dimensional slither swimming of sperm within a micrometre of a surface
description Sperm motion near surfaces plays a crucial role in fertilization, but the nature of this motion has not been resolved. Using total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy, we selectively imaged motile human and bull sperm located within one micron of a surface, revealing a distinct two-dimensional (2D) ‘slither' swimming mode whereby the full cell length (50–80 μm) is confined within 1 μm of a surface. This behaviour is distinct from bulk and near-wall swimming modes where the flagellar wave is helical and the head continuously rotates. The slither mode is intermittent (∼1 s, ∼70 μm), and in human sperm, is observed only for viscosities over 20 mPa·s. Bull sperm are slower in this surface-confined swimming mode, owing to a decrease in their flagellar wave amplitude. In contrast, human sperm are ∼50% faster—suggesting a strategy that is well suited to the highly viscous and confined lumen within the human fallopian tube.
publisher Nature Pub. Group
publishDate 2015
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4667638/
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