Click here to close Hello! We notice that you are using Internet Explorer, which is not supported by Echinobase and may cause the site to display incorrectly. We suggest using a current version of Chrome, FireFox, or Safari.
Echinobase
ECB-ART-40742
Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2008 Aug 15;3731:125-9. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2008.05.189.
Show Gene links Show Anatomy links

Tracking sperm in three-dimensions.

Corkidi G , Taboada B , Wood CD , Guerrero A , Darszon A .


???displayArticle.abstract???
Sperm motility, crucial for fertilization, has been mostly studied in two dimensions (2D) by recording their swimming trajectories near a flat surface. However, spermatozoa swim in three-dimensions (3D) to find eggs, with their speed being the main impediment to track them under realistic conditions. Here, we describe a novel method allowing 3D tracking and analysis of the trajectories of multiple free-swimming sperm. The system uses a piezo-electric device displacing a large focal distance objective mounted on a microscope to acquire 70 image stacks per second, each stack composed of 60 images that span a depth of 100 microm. With this method, 3D paths of multiple sperm in the same field could be visualized simultaneously during 1 s. Within the same sample we found that surface-confined sperm swam 25% slower, produced 3-fold fewer circular revolutions per second, and had trajectories of 134% greater radius of curvature than those sperm swimming freely in 3D.

???displayArticle.pubmedLink??? 18555013
???displayArticle.link??? Biochem Biophys Res Commun
???displayArticle.grants??? [+]

Genes referenced: LOC115925415 LOC590159 span