Geometrical guidance and trapping transition of human sperm cells

GUIDOBALDI HA; JEYARAM Y; BERDAKIN I; V. V. MOSHCHALKOV; C. A. CONDAT; V. I. MARCONI; L. GIOJALAS; A. V. SILHANEK

PHYSICAL REVIEW E - STATISTICAL PHYSICS, PLASMAS, FLUIDS AND RELATED INTERDISCIPLINARY TOPICS

PHYSICAL REVIEW E

Año: 2014

1063-651X

The guidance of human sperm cells under confinement in quasi-2D microchambers is investigated using a purely physical method to control their distribution. Transport property measurements and simulations are performed with diluted sperm populations, for which effects of geometrical guidance and concentration are studied in detail. In particular, a trapping transition at convex angular wall features is identified and analyzed. We also show that highly efficient microratchets can be fabricated by using curved asymmetric obstacles to take advantage of the spermatozoa specific swimming strategy.