TY - JOUR
T1 - In vivo three-dimensional tracking of sperm behaviors in the mouse oviduct
AU - Wang, Shang
AU - Larina, Irina V.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.
PY - 2018/3
Y1 - 2018/3
N2 - Mammalian sperm evolutionarily acquired complex mechanisms to regulate their behaviors, which are thought to be crucial in navigating through the female reproductive tract toward fertilization. However, all current knowledge of this process is largely extrapolated from in vitro and ex vivo studies, because in vivo analysis of sperm in their native fertilization environment has not been possible. Here, we report a functional optical coherence tomography approach that allows, for the first time, in vivo three-dimensional tracking of sperm behaviors in the mouse oviduct. Motile sperm are identified with their intrinsic dynamic characteristics. Sperm trajectories are reconstructed in three dimensions with a ~5 µm spatial resolution, allowing for quantitative analysis of the sperm velocity and location relative to the oviduct. Using this method, we found different behavior patterns, including sperm collection by the oviduct epithelium, spatial dependence of sperm velocity, and sperm grouping and separation as the first in vivo evidence of sperm cooperation in the ampulla, the site of fertilization. This approach opens new avenues to study sperm-oviduct interactions in vivo toward a more complete understanding of fertility and reproductive disorders.
AB - Mammalian sperm evolutionarily acquired complex mechanisms to regulate their behaviors, which are thought to be crucial in navigating through the female reproductive tract toward fertilization. However, all current knowledge of this process is largely extrapolated from in vitro and ex vivo studies, because in vivo analysis of sperm in their native fertilization environment has not been possible. Here, we report a functional optical coherence tomography approach that allows, for the first time, in vivo three-dimensional tracking of sperm behaviors in the mouse oviduct. Motile sperm are identified with their intrinsic dynamic characteristics. Sperm trajectories are reconstructed in three dimensions with a ~5 µm spatial resolution, allowing for quantitative analysis of the sperm velocity and location relative to the oviduct. Using this method, we found different behavior patterns, including sperm collection by the oviduct epithelium, spatial dependence of sperm velocity, and sperm grouping and separation as the first in vivo evidence of sperm cooperation in the ampulla, the site of fertilization. This approach opens new avenues to study sperm-oviduct interactions in vivo toward a more complete understanding of fertility and reproductive disorders.
KW - In vivo
KW - Mouse oviduct
KW - Optical coherence tomography
KW - Quantitative imaging
KW - Sperm behavior
KW - Three-dimensional tracking
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U2 - 10.1242/dev.157685
DO - 10.1242/dev.157685
M3 - Article
C2 - 29487107
AN - SCOPUS:85044252776
SN - 0950-1991
VL - 145
JO - Development (Cambridge)
JF - Development (Cambridge)
IS - 6
M1 - dev157685
ER -