Optimal kinematics and morphologies for spermatozoa
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Tam-2011-Optimal kinematics a.pdf
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Author(s)
Tam, Daniel See-Wai
Hosoi, Anette E.
Date Issued
April 2011
Journal
Physical Review E
Publisher
American Physical Society
Citation
Tam, Daniel, and A. Hosoi. “Optimal Kinematics and Morphologies for Spermatozoa.” Physical Review E 83.4 (2011) ©2011 American Physical Society
Version
Final published version
Abstract
We investigate the role of hydrodynamics in the evolution of the morphology and the selection of kinematics in simple uniflagellated microorganisms. We find that the most efficient swimming strategies are characterized by symmetrical, nonsinusoidal bending waves propagating from the base of the head to the tip of the tail. In addition, we show that the ideal tail-to-head length ratio for such a swimmer is ≈12 and that this predicted ratio is consistent with data collected from over 400 species of mammalian sperm.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mathematics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.83.045303
