Behavior of Motile Sperm in Taylor-Couette Flow: Effect of Shear Stress on the Behavior of Motile Sperm

Abstract

Infertility is often cited as one of the causes of a declining birthrate, which has become a serious social problem in recent years. Processes by which motile sperm can be safely and easily sorted are therefore important for infertility treatment. Therefore, as a new sorting method, microfluidic sperm sorter using the microfluidic system has been developed. To improve more separation efficiency of this device, it is necessary to know the behaviors of motile sperm in the microchannel where the sperm undergo shear flow. The previous study implied the necessity of the modeling of motile sperm in the shear flow. In the present study, therefore, we experimentally investigated the behavior of the motile sperm in the Taylor-Couette flow using PTV (Particle Tracking Velocimetry) method. The experimental results showed that the ascent of the shear stress led to the increase in the sperm velocity, and the direction of the sperm velocity was opposite to that of the flow.

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Y. Hayamizu, T. Hyakutake, K. Matsuura, S. Yanase, S. Morita, S. Ohtsuka and T. Gonda, "Behavior of Motile Sperm in Taylor-Couette Flow: Effect of Shear Stress on the Behavior of Motile Sperm," Open Journal of Fluid Dynamics, Vol. 3 No. 2A, 2013, pp. 9-13. doi: 10.4236/ojfd.2013.32A002.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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