Fluid viscoelasticity promotes collective swimming of sperm

Abstract From flocking birds to swarming insects, interactions of organisms large and small lead to the emergence of collective dynamics. Here, we report striking collective swimming of bovine sperm in dynamic clusters, enabled by the viscoelasticity of the fluid. Sperm oriented in the same directio...

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Autores principales:	Chih-kuan Tung, Chungwei Lin, Benedict Harvey, Alyssa G. Fiore, Florencia Ardon, Mingming Wu, Susan S. Suarez
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/44b0dfad47ff4dafb3b3e3a70643584f
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:44b0dfad47ff4dafb3b3e3a70643584f2021-12-02T11:40:50ZFluid viscoelasticity promotes collective swimming of sperm10.1038/s41598-017-03341-42045-2322https://doaj.org/article/44b0dfad47ff4dafb3b3e3a70643584f2017-06-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-03341-4https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract From flocking birds to swarming insects, interactions of organisms large and small lead to the emergence of collective dynamics. Here, we report striking collective swimming of bovine sperm in dynamic clusters, enabled by the viscoelasticity of the fluid. Sperm oriented in the same direction within each cluster, and cluster size and cell-cell alignment strength increased with viscoelasticity of the fluid. In contrast, sperm swam randomly and individually in Newtonian (nonelastic) fluids of low and high viscosity. Analysis of the fluid motion surrounding individual swimming sperm indicated that sperm-fluid interaction was facilitated by the elastic component of the fluid. In humans, as well as cattle, sperm are naturally deposited at the entrance to the cervix and must swim through viscoelastic cervical mucus and other mucoid secretions to reach the site of fertilization. Collective swimming induced by elasticity may thus facilitate sperm migration and contribute to successful fertilization. We note that almost all biological fluids (e.g. mucus and blood) are viscoelastic in nature, and this finding highlights the importance of fluid elasticity in biological function.Chih-kuan TungChungwei LinBenedict HarveyAlyssa G. FioreFlorencia ArdonMingming WuSusan S. SuarezNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Chih-kuan Tung Chungwei Lin Benedict Harvey Alyssa G. Fiore Florencia Ardon Mingming Wu Susan S. Suarez Fluid viscoelasticity promotes collective swimming of sperm
description	Abstract From flocking birds to swarming insects, interactions of organisms large and small lead to the emergence of collective dynamics. Here, we report striking collective swimming of bovine sperm in dynamic clusters, enabled by the viscoelasticity of the fluid. Sperm oriented in the same direction within each cluster, and cluster size and cell-cell alignment strength increased with viscoelasticity of the fluid. In contrast, sperm swam randomly and individually in Newtonian (nonelastic) fluids of low and high viscosity. Analysis of the fluid motion surrounding individual swimming sperm indicated that sperm-fluid interaction was facilitated by the elastic component of the fluid. In humans, as well as cattle, sperm are naturally deposited at the entrance to the cervix and must swim through viscoelastic cervical mucus and other mucoid secretions to reach the site of fertilization. Collective swimming induced by elasticity may thus facilitate sperm migration and contribute to successful fertilization. We note that almost all biological fluids (e.g. mucus and blood) are viscoelastic in nature, and this finding highlights the importance of fluid elasticity in biological function.
format	article
author	Chih-kuan Tung Chungwei Lin Benedict Harvey Alyssa G. Fiore Florencia Ardon Mingming Wu Susan S. Suarez
author_facet	Chih-kuan Tung Chungwei Lin Benedict Harvey Alyssa G. Fiore Florencia Ardon Mingming Wu Susan S. Suarez
author_sort	Chih-kuan Tung
title	Fluid viscoelasticity promotes collective swimming of sperm
title_short	Fluid viscoelasticity promotes collective swimming of sperm
title_full	Fluid viscoelasticity promotes collective swimming of sperm
title_fullStr	Fluid viscoelasticity promotes collective swimming of sperm
title_full_unstemmed	Fluid viscoelasticity promotes collective swimming of sperm
title_sort	fluid viscoelasticity promotes collective swimming of sperm
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/44b0dfad47ff4dafb3b3e3a70643584f
work_keys_str_mv	AT chihkuantung fluidviscoelasticitypromotescollectiveswimmingofsperm AT chungweilin fluidviscoelasticitypromotescollectiveswimmingofsperm AT benedictharvey fluidviscoelasticitypromotescollectiveswimmingofsperm AT alyssagfiore fluidviscoelasticitypromotescollectiveswimmingofsperm AT florenciaardon fluidviscoelasticitypromotescollectiveswimmingofsperm AT mingmingwu fluidviscoelasticitypromotescollectiveswimmingofsperm AT susanssuarez fluidviscoelasticitypromotescollectiveswimmingofsperm
_version_	1718395513288523776

Fluid viscoelasticity promotes collective swimming of sperm

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