Regulation of human sperm spiral motion by microfluidic structures

Abstract

Mammalian motile sperms make spiral trajectories. We tried to find the factors to make the trajectories. We prepared circular microfluidic channels with diameters of approximately 50 μm and 100 μm made of poly(dimethylsiloxiane), and we compared the trajectory of the motile sperms in the microfluidic channels with and without flow. As a result, percentage of motile sperms with spiral motion increased under fluid flow. The period of spiral motion in the circular channel with diameter of 50 μm was longer than that with diameter of 100 μm.