Exhaustion of racing sperm in nature-mimicking microfluidic channels during sorting

Savas Tasoglu; Hooman Safaee; Xiaohui Zhang; James L Kingsley; Paolo N Catalano; Umut Atakan Gurkan; Aida Nureddin; Emre Kayaalp; Raymond M Anchan; Richard L Maas; Erkan Tüzel; Utkan Demirci

doi:10.1002/smll.201300020

Exhaustion of racing sperm in nature-mimicking microfluidic channels during sorting

Small. 2013 Oct 25;9(20):3374-84. doi: 10.1002/smll.201300020. Epub 2013 May 16.

Authors

Savas Tasoglu¹, Hooman Safaee, Xiaohui Zhang, James L Kingsley, Paolo N Catalano, Umut Atakan Gurkan, Aida Nureddin, Emre Kayaalp, Raymond M Anchan, Richard L Maas, Erkan Tüzel, Utkan Demirci

Affiliation

¹ Bio-Acoustic-MEMS in Medicine (BAMM) Laboratory, Center for Bioengineering, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.

Abstract

Fertilization is central to the survival and propagation of a species, however, the precise mechanisms that regulate the sperm's journey to the egg are not well understood. In nature, the sperm has to swim through the cervical mucus, akin to a microfluidic channel. Inspired by this, a simple, cost-effective microfluidic channel is designed on the same scale. The experimental results are supported by a computational model incorporating the exhaustion time of sperm.

Keywords: biodesign; fertility; microfluidic sorting; sperm exhaustion; sperm sorting.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Cell Movement*
Cell Separation
Computer Simulation
Humans
Male
Mice
Microfluidics / methods*
Spermatozoa / cytology*
Time Factors

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding