Sperm Cell Dynamics in Restricted Geometries

CONDAT, CA; MARCONI, VI; BERDAKIN, I; GUIDOBALDI, HA; OVIEDO, M; GIOJALAS, LC; JERAYAM, L; SILHANEK, A

Maceiao

Conferencia; XVIII Conference on Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics and Nonlinear Physics; 2014

MEDYFINOL

A good knowledge of the dynamics of sperm cells in restricted geometries is necessary to understand the behavior of sperm in the female reproductive tract and to optimize in vitro fertilization techniques, which require the selection of highly motile spermatozoa. It is well known that small self-propelled microorganisms exhibit a marked tendency to swim parallel to surfaces. This leads to rectification effects, which have been studied in depth for bacteria. Although the size and propulsion system of a sperm cell are rather different from that of a bacterium, its interaction with walls and obstacles is broadly similar. In this work we study how microarchitectures can be used to guide sperm cells and investigate the effects of wall curvature experimentally and by the use of simulations. We show that V-shaped features become sperm traps and demonstrate that artificially corrugated boundaries can contribute to homogenize the cell distribution in shallow confinement chambers, where a variety of trajectory shapes is observed.