Boston, MA (AHN) - Harvard researchers, in efforts to develop the next generation of birth control, say an extensive knowledge of how sperm and egg unite is critical to the future of fertility and birth control drugs.
David Clapham and Yuriy Kurichok of Harvard University say that the female reproductive tract is warmer near the ovaries. Apparently this encourages the free-swimming sperm cells to keep moving. Besides being heat-seeking, sperm also appear to have olfactory sensors and will swim towards a synthetic compound with a floral smell.
The sperm can even swim with different strokes depending on whether they're gliding up the uterus or breaking down the thick zona pellucida that surrounds and protects the ultimate target.
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