Microgrooves and fluid flows provide preferential passageways for sperm over pathogen Tritrichomonas foetus
Abstract
Mammalian females must selectively allow sperm with normal morphology and motility to ascend the reproductive tract while rejecting invasion of pathogens. By using microfluidic modeling, we revealed that microgrooves and gentle fluid flows, two major biophysical characteristics of the female tract, synergistically provide preferential pathways for sperm. In contrast, the sexually transmitted pathogen, Tritrichomonas foetus, is swept away from these pathways. These findings are not only valuable to dairy and beef industries for maximizing fertility and suppressing disease, but also to human medicine, because the morphology and movement of bull sperm closely resemble those of human sperm, and T. foetus closely resembles Trichomonas vaginalis, which infects 170 million people annually worldwide.
- Publication:
-
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Pub Date:
- April 2015
- DOI:
- 10.1073/pnas.1500541112
- Bibcode:
- 2015PNAS..112.5431T