Mammalian sperm navigation in response to biochemical factors

Mammalian sperm migration within the female reproductive tract requires multiple navigational mechanisms to ensure that sperm maintain the correct swimming behavior as it proceeds toward the oocyte and the fertilization site. These navigational mechanisms are known to rely upon exogenous biophysical clues present in the tract including external fluid flow as well as the tract’s architecture. While sperm chemotaxis in marine invertebrates is well documented, the contribution of exogenous biochemical factors to the navigation of mammalian sperm is poorly understood. Here, using microfluidic experimentation as well as theoretical and computational modeling, we explore bull sperm motion in response to pharmacological agonists to identify whether biochemical factors modulate sperm navigation.