Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
Lab Chip. 2014 Apr 7;14(7):1348-56. doi: 10.1039/c3lc51297e.
Successful reproduction in mammals requires sperm to swim against a fluid flow and through the long and complex female reproductive tract before reaching the egg in the oviduct. Millions of them do not make it. Despite their clinical importance, the roles played in sperm migration by the diverse biophysical and biochemical microenvironments within the reproductive tract are largely unknown. In this article, we present the development of a double layer microfluidic device that recreates two important biophysical environments within the female reproductive tract: fluid flow and surface topography. The unique feature of the device is that it enables one to study the cooperative roles of fluid flow and surface topography in guiding sperm migration. Using bull sperm as a model system, we found that microfluidic grooves embedded on a channel surface facilitate sperm migration against fluid flow. These findings suggest ways to design in vitro fertilization devices to treat infertility and to develop non-invasive contraceptives that use a microarchitectural design to entrap sperm.
哺乳动物的成功繁殖需要精子在游向卵子的过程中逆流而上，穿越女性生殖道的长而复杂的管道。但在这个过程中，数以百万计的精子无法到达目的地。尽管它们在临床上很重要，但在生殖道内多样化的生物物理和生化微环境中，精子迁移所扮演的角色在很大程度上仍是未知的。在本文中，我们介绍了一种双层微流控装置的开发，该装置再现了女性生殖道内的两个重要的生物物理环境：流体流动和表面形貌。该装置的独特之处在于，它能够研究流体流动和表面形貌在引导精子迁移方面的协同作用。我们使用公牛精子作为模型系统，发现嵌入在通道表面上的微流道有利于精子在流体流动中迁移。这些发现为设计体外受精设备以治疗不孕以及开发使用微观结构设计来捕获精子的非侵入性避孕药具提供了思路。
