Cooperative roles of biological flow and surface topography in guiding sperm migration revealed by a microfluidic model

Tung, Chih-kuan; Ardón, Florencia; Fiore, Alyssa G.; Suárez, Susan S.; Wu, Mingming

doi:10.1039/c3lc51297e

Cited by 85 publications

(85 citation statements)

References 44 publications

(89 reference statements)

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“…When swimming close to a surface, the hydrodynamic interaction between the sperm and the surface attract the sperm toward the surface (26). In our microfluidic device, sperm were found to swim either along the upper or lower surface of the device as soon as they were introduced into the main channel (2). In contrast, the T. foetus exhibited swimming characteristics more in line with those of a puller microswimmer (20,27) (19,21), and (ii) both T. foetus and C. reinhardtii, like other puller microswimmers, do not have the tendency to swim near a surface (27).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…A newly developed microfluidic model (Fig. 1B) was designed to simulate two important biophysical cues within the female reproductive tract: fluid flows and microgrooves embedded in the wall of the cervix and uterotubal junction (2). The microfluidic device consisted of a central channel 300 μm in width, 120 μm in height, and ∼4 cm in length.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this study, we used a microfluidic device previously developed in our laboratories (2) to demonstrate that a gentle fluid flow,…”

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confidence: 99%

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Microgrooves and fluid flows provide preferential passageways for sperm over pathogen Tritrichomonas foetus

Tung¹,

Fiore³

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Successful mammalian reproduction requires that sperm migrate through a long and convoluted female reproductive tract before reaching oocytes. For many years, fertility studies have focused on biochemical and physiological requirements of sperm. Here we show that the biophysical environment of the female reproductive tract critically guides sperm migration, while at the same time preventing the invasion of sexually transmitted pathogens. Using a microfluidic model, we demonstrate that a gentle fluid flow and microgrooves, typically found in the female reproductive tract, synergistically facilitate bull sperm migration toward the site of fertilization. In contrast, a flagellated sexually transmitted bovine pathogen, Tritrichomonas foetus, is swept downstream under the same conditions. We attribute the differential ability of sperm and T. foetus to swim against flow to the distinct motility types of sperm and T. foetus; specifically, sperm swim using a posterior flagellum and are near-surface swimmers, whereas T. foetus swims primarily via three anterior flagella and demonstrates much lower attraction to surfaces. This work highlights the importance of biophysical cues within the female reproductive tract in the reproductive process and provides insight into coevolution of males and females to promote fertilization while suppressing infection. Furthermore, the results provide previously unidentified directions for the development of in vitro fertilization devices and contraceptives.cell motility | cervix | microfluidics | microswimmer | trichomoniasis

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Microgrooves and fluid flows provide preferential passageways for sperm over pathogen Tritrichomonas foetus

Tung¹,

Fiore³

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Sperm, along with many other ‘pusher micro-swimmers’ such as Escherichia coli [24–26] or Caulobacter crescentus [27], have the tendency to swim near surfaces [28] and sidewalls in microfluidic channels [6,29,30]. This is clearly seen in Fig.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…1(a)]. For consistency, all data presented here were taken from the sperm swimming along the lower surface of the channel [6]. …”

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confidence: 99%

Emergence of Upstream Swimming via a Hydrodynamic Transition

et al. 2015

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We demonstrate that upstream swimming of sperm emerges via an orientation disorder-order transition. The order parameter, the average orientation of the sperm head against the flow, follows a 0.5 power law with the deviation from the critical flow shear rate (γ − γc). This transition is successfully explained by a hydrodynamic bifurcation theory, which extends the sperm upstream swimming to a broad class of near surface micro-swimmers that possess front-back asymmetry and circular motion.

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Sperm Syringe: 3D Sorting Platform for Assisted Reproduction

Parast

O'Bryan

Nosrati

2022

Adv Materials Technologies

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sperm injection (ICSI), [3] in vitro fertilization (IVF), [4] and intrauterine insemination (IUI). [5] In ICSI, as the most invasive method, an individual sperm is selected and injected directly into an egg. In IVF or IUI, a subpopulation of pre-selected sperm is introduced close to the egg to achieve fertilization. [3][4][5] The quality of selected sperm is crucial to ART, contributing significantly to the treatment success rate, live-birth rate, and offspring health. [6] However, the current clinical sperm selection practices are highly manual, subjective, and prone to operator errors, resulting in a suboptimal ART success rate, stagnating at ≈33% per cycle over the past 30 years. [7,8] The inherent challenge is to mimic the highly parallelized and 3D selection process in vivo that enables a single-cell level sorting mechanism within a relatively short timeframe. [9] Specifically, the 3D folded structure of the female reproductive tract breaks down the initial semen volume (≈1-4 mL) into a few microliters per selection event within the folded epithelial of the fallopian tube. These subfractioning events can process hundreds of millions of sperm in just a few hours. [10] Current clinical practices, however, only provide a 2D bulk scale selection alternative.Density gradient centrifugation (DGC) [11] and swim-up [12,13] are the most commonly used methods for human sperm selection in fertility clinics. In swim-up assay (SU), highly motile sperm are selected based on their ability to swim upward from the raw semen sediment into a fresh sperm media, where they are collected after ≈60 min. This method is not applicable in the case of asthenozoospermia (poor sperm motility). [14] In DGC, human sperm are separated based on their density by being forced to cross a viscosity gradient via centrifugation force that could cause sperm DNA damage and alter sperm morphology and function. [11,15] The sperm preparation method that is used in clinics is mainly chosen based on the count and motility of sperm in the human semen sample. [9] Both SU and DGC are time consuming (30-60 min), require multiple preparation steps, depend on the clinician expertise, and differ significantly from the natural selection process in vivo. [16] Moreover, the relatively long processing time of these methods and the low percentage of recovered sperm in the swim-up method (less than 20%) have considerably restricted the clinical workflow, especially Selection of high-quality sperm is crucial to assisted reproduction. However, conventional clinical methods for sperm selection are manual and prone to operator errors. This article presents 'sperm syringe', a scalable technology that mimics the highly parallelized 3D selection process in vivo via a 3D network of 560 microchannels to select high-quality sperm. Sperm syringe retrieves more than 41% of healthy sperm from the initial sperm sample in under 15 min, providing a sufficient volume (≈500 µL) and number (1,600,000) of high-quality sperm for fertility treatments. Experiments with bull and human sper...

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Cooperative roles of biological flow and surface topography in guiding sperm migration revealed by a microfluidic model

Cited by 85 publications

References 44 publications

Microgrooves and fluid flows provide preferential passageways for sperm over pathogen Tritrichomonas foetus

Microgrooves and fluid flows provide preferential passageways for sperm over pathogen Tritrichomonas foetus

Emergence of Upstream Swimming via a Hydrodynamic Transition

Sperm Syringe: 3D Sorting Platform for Assisted Reproduction

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