{"title":"Sperm in the Mammalian Female Reproductive Tract: Surfing Through the Tract to Try to Beat the Odds.","authors":"David J Miller","doi":"10.1146/annurev-animal-021022-040629","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Mammalian sperm are deposited in the vagina or the cervix/uterus at coitus or at artificial insemination, and the fertilizing sperm move through the female reproductive tract to the ampulla of the oviduct, the site of fertilization. But the destination of most sperm is not the oviduct. Most sperm are carried by retrograde fluid flow to the vagina, are phagocytosed, and/or do not pass barriers on the pathway to the oviduct. The sperm that reach the site of fertilization are the exceptions and winners of one of the most stringent selection processes in nature. This review discusses the challenges sperm encounter and how the few sperm that reach the site of fertilization overcome them. The sperm that reach the goal must navigate viscoelastic fluid, swim vigorously and cooperatively along the walls of the female tract, avoid the innate immune system, and respond to potential cues to direct their movement.</p>","PeriodicalId":48953,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Animal Biosciences","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":8.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11149062/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Annual Review of Animal Biosciences","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-animal-021022-040629","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2023/10/31 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"AGRICULTURE, DAIRY & ANIMAL SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Mammalian sperm are deposited in the vagina or the cervix/uterus at coitus or at artificial insemination, and the fertilizing sperm move through the female reproductive tract to the ampulla of the oviduct, the site of fertilization. But the destination of most sperm is not the oviduct. Most sperm are carried by retrograde fluid flow to the vagina, are phagocytosed, and/or do not pass barriers on the pathway to the oviduct. The sperm that reach the site of fertilization are the exceptions and winners of one of the most stringent selection processes in nature. This review discusses the challenges sperm encounter and how the few sperm that reach the site of fertilization overcome them. The sperm that reach the goal must navigate viscoelastic fluid, swim vigorously and cooperatively along the walls of the female tract, avoid the innate immune system, and respond to potential cues to direct their movement.
期刊介绍:
The Annual Review of Animal Biosciences is primarily dedicated to the fields of biotechnology, genetics, genomics, and breeding, with a special focus on veterinary medicine. This includes veterinary pathobiology, infectious diseases and vaccine development, and conservation and zoo biology. The publication aims to address the needs of scientists studying both wild and domesticated animal species, veterinarians, conservation biologists, and geneticists.