The Relationship Between Sperm Velocity and Pressures Applied to the Zona Pellucida During Early Sperm-Oocyte Penetration

Author:

Gefen Amit1

Affiliation:

1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel

Abstract

Sperm velocity is long known to be an important indicator of sperm quality but without much biophysical theory explaining it. Contact mechanics based modeling was developed here to determine the effects that sperm velocity (vs) and sperm head density (ρs)—which is an indicator of the stiffness of the head, have on the peak sperm-zona pellucida contact pressure (pm) during the early phase of sperm penetration. The modeling identified vs as being more influential on pm compared with the influence that ρs has, which means that for spermatozoa competing on the same oocyte, greater vs is a more important advantage than higher ρs. Specifically, pm was more sensitive by a power of 2 to changes in vs than to changes in ρs. It was further demonstrated that each 0.1 g/cc increase in ρs (within the physiologically relevant range of 1.3–1.7 g/cc) would be equivalent to just ∼3% rise in vs, indicating again that faster swimming is a better strategy for spermatozoa compared with head stiffening. The modeling hence provided some useful insights regarding sperm biomechanics, which theoretically elucidate the well-recognized importance of sperm velocity measurements as being indicative of sperm quality.

Publisher

ASME International

Subject

Physiology (medical),Biomedical Engineering

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3