Cooperation of sperm in two dimensions: synchronization, attraction, and aggregation through hydrodynamic interactions.
Sperm swimming at low Reynolds number have strong hydrodynamic interactions when their concentration is high in vivo or near substrates in vitro. The beating tails not only propel the sperm through a fluid, but also create flow fields through which sperm interact with each other. We study the hydrodynamic interaction and cooperation of sperm embedded in a two-dimensional fluid by using a particle-based mesoscopic simulation method, multiparticle collision dynamics. We analyze the sperm behavior by investigating the relationship between the beating-phase difference and the relative sperm position, as well as the energy consumption. Two effects of hydrodynamic interaction are found, synchronization and attraction. With these hydrodynamic effects, a multisperm system shows swarm behavior with a power-law dependence of the average cluster size on the width of the distribution of beating frequencies.
Yang
Yingzi
Y
Theoretical Soft Matter and Biophysics Group, Institut für Festkörperforschung, Forschungszentrum Jülich, D52425 Jülich, Germany.
Elgeti
Jens
J
Gompper
Gerhard
G
D000818:Animals; D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D002449:Cell Aggregation / Q000502:physiology; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D013081:Sperm Motility / Q000502:physiology*; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*