The movement of sperm depends on the method of navigation - British scientists

A group of scientists from Warwick and Birmingham universities tried to find out why millions of sperm entering the female genital tract during ejaculation, only a few dozen eggs can be achieved.

The experiments revealed that all depends on the method of navigation - the majority of sperm are moving off-center, and "from wall to wall" and puts them on the bends. The paper was published in the online version of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

It is known that in order to reach the egg, sperm must pass through the narrow, winding, filled with a viscous secretion channels. During the experiments, the researchers with a syringe, "ran" the male sex cells in a specially designed maze of micro-channels and watching their behavior.

It was found that sperm, instead of moving the fastest way for the central section of the channel, often do it in a way "from wall to wall." That is, they move the entire "crowd" along the channel walls, and reaching the place of the bend, when the direction changed dramatically, from different angles cut into the opposite wall, and often each other, then to "fly away" in the opposite direction. It reminded participants of the authors of racing.

"I could not help but smile, watching as the sperm regularly puts on turns, and then going head-on collision on the opposite wall," - The Daily Mail quoted one of the authors of the study, Dr. Peter Denisenko (Peter Denissenko) from Warwick University.

This method of movement on the road brings down most of the male germ cells. Get to the place, only those who could not overcome the loss of the labyrinth, or still moving to the middle of the bed of the channel, or successfully "when leaving" when cornering.

According to another author, Dr. Kirman Jackson-Brown (Jackson Kirman-Brown) from the University of Birmingham, previous studies of groups have shown that the success of the promotion of each sperm has a determining influence also the shape of his head. The collection of this information and the latest research results will, Kirman says Brown, a fresh look at the methods of selection of male gametes for artificial insemination.