Seen in three dimensions, the reproductive cells clearly rotate like a corkscrew as they strive to journey towards an egg. The findings could help to better understand and address the causes of male infertility - which is thought affect around one-in-seven British couplesĬomputer-assisted semen analysis systems in use today - both for research and within fertility clinics - still make use of 2D imaging to look at sperm movement. 'The otter-like spinning of human sperm is, however, complex - the sperm head spins at the same time that the sperm tail rotates around the swimming direction.' In doing so, he added, nature has 'ingeniously solved a mathematical puzzle at a microscopic scale - by creating symmetry out of asymmetry.' 'However, our discovery shows sperm have developed a swimming technique to compensate for their lopsidedness.' 'The tail appears to have a side-to-side symmetric movement - "like eels in water", as described by Leeuwenhoek in the 17th century.' ![]() 'The sperms' rapid and highly synchronised spinning causes an illusion when seen from above with 2D microscopes,' explained Dr Gadelha. This moved the experimental sample up and down at an incredibly high rate, as so that team could record the sperm swimming freely in 3D. To film the sperm, the researchers used a high-speed camera - capable of capturing more than 55,000 frames a second - along with a so-called 'piezoelectric' scanner that generates its own energy through touch. However, Dr Gadelha and colleagues combined state-of-the-art microscopy with mathematics to reveal how sperm really move in astonishing detail. The conventional understanding of sperm locomotion was put forward by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek - a Dutch lens maker and the so-dubbed 'father of microbiology' - who was the first to observe sperm cells under a microscope in 1678. 'Human sperm figured out if they roll as they swim, much like playful otters corkscrewing through water, their one-sided stroke would average itself out, and they would swim forwards,' Dr Gadelha said. In their new study, Dr Gadelha and colleagues found that sperm have wonky tails, which wiggle on one side only - which should really have them swimming in circles. The biologist's previous work revealed the biomechanics of sperm 'bendiness' and the exact nature of the rhythms that propel the forward. ![]() 'With over half of infertility caused by male factors, understanding the human sperm tail is fundamental to developing future diagnostic tools to identify unhealthy sperm,' said paper author Hermes Gadelha of the University of Bristol. A 3D filming technique has revealed that human sperm (pictured in this artist's impression) swim with a corkscrew motion, rather than wiggling like eels due to their 'wonky tails'
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