Sperm Migration: Sperm Dynamics in Tubular Confinement (Small 7/2015)

The motion of spermatozoa in a confined space is investigated by V. Magdanz, O. G. Schmidt, and co-workers using transparent microtubes. On page 781, cells swimming through microtubes are shown to have a higher directionality than cells swimming unconfined on a planar glass surface. In addition, the straight line velocity of spermatozoa swimming through 20–45 μm wide microtubes is increased compared to their velocity on a planar surface. These results indicate that the tubular microenvironment may play an important role in spermatozoa migration.