Sperms spin not swim – scientists modified 350 years old concept

Sperms spin not swim – scientists modified 350 years old concept

Photo Courtesy – Business Insider

Scientists at the University of Sheffield in England examined it with a 3D microscope and found that the sperm did not swim at all, they spin.

Scientists have recently found that sperms spin, not swim at all which was a concept trusted concept for almost 350 years.

Scientists have sincerely believed for quite a long time that sperm are mature swimmers. Swinging its long tail and moving on both sides, it swims like a fish and moves towards the egg. Millions of sperm swim toward the ovum. The one who has the fastest speed and the one who remembers the egg wins the competition.

The egg sends a message to the selected swimmer sperm. It was a firm belief for 350 years. However, this belief cracked a few days ago. The scientists found that the sperms could not move their tails in that way.

Analysis of the Old Concept

Scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek told that sperm could swim like mature swimmers or like Eel fish. This theory was accepted in the scientific community on March 18, 1678. Leeuwenhoek invented the first microscope and then he introduced microorganisms. He refers to the delicate blood cells, capillaries, nerve cells etc. of the human body.

Everything he showed was under a 2D microscope that the human body has living things exactly like animals with round heads and long tails that can swim. He hinted at the mystery of creating new life. The living thing with that long tail is called the sperm which Leeuwenhoek named ‘Living Animacule’.

Leeuwenhoek was the first to say that sperm moves forward, sometimes moving the tail to the right and sometimes to the left. The type of sperm is much the same as that of a fish swimming in the water.

Billions of sperm swim in this way, aiming at the egg. The follicular fluid that surrounds the egg contains a chemical called chemoattractant. This chemical pulls the sperms closer to the egg. The sperm is chosen from there.

Analysis of the New Concept

What Leeuwenhoek observed the sperms under a 2D microscope. If you observe under a 2D microscope, the sperms can still be seen swimming. But, that does not happen in reality. Scientists at the University of Sheffield in England examined it with a 3D microscope and found that the sperm did not swim at all. Instead, they move around like spin in a corkscrew motion. It runs towards the egg with its spinning motion.

Scientists at the National Autonomous University of Mexico have framed the sperm in a blue-sky exploration method. This microscopy technique can take 55,000 pictures per second. This is the way every second frame is taken to see exactly how the sperm moves.

Conclusion

It has been seen that the sperm rotates with tail in about 360 degrees. However, the rotation of the head and the rotation of the tail are somewhat different. It looks like they are spinning like a ball if you observe through a 3D microscope. Sperm can travel a long way at a speed that is created by its spinning in a corkscrew motion. In this way, the sperm get stuck into the fluid of the egg and penetrate the female egg cell in order to fertilize it. The new findings have changed the 350 years old concept that sperms spin, not swim at all.

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