Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36638212›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2023

Locomotion of bovine spermatozoa during the transition from individual cells to bundles.

Kaixuan Zhang, Anke Klingner, Yohan Le Gars, Sarthak Misra, Veronika Magdanz, Islam S M Khalil

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Multiorifice acoustic microrobot for boundary-free multimodal 3D swimming.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  4. Evolutionary Aspects of Sperm Physiology and Its Assessment.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2025
    Review
  5. Exploring sperm cell motion dynamics: Insights from genetic algorithm-based analysis.Computational and structural biotechnology journal · 2024
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Kaixuan ZhangSurgical Robotics Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen 9713 AV, Groningen, Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-9726-8462
Anke KlingnerDepartment of Physics, The German University in Cairo 11835, New Cairo, Egypt.ORCID 0000-0002-2426-433X
Yohan Le GarsDepartment of Cognitive Robotics, Delft University of Technology 2628 CD, Delft, Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-3469-7905
Sarthak MisraSurgical Robotics Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen 9713 AV, Groningen, Netherlands.
Veronika MagdanzDepartment of Systems Design Engineering, University of Waterloo N2L 3G1, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.ORCID 0000-0001-7522-033X
Islam S M KhalilSurgical Robotics Laboratory, Department of Biomechanical Engineering, University of Twente 7522 NB, Enschede, Netherlands.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Various locomotion strategies employed by microorganisms are observed in complex biological environments. Spermatozoa assemble into bundles to improve their swimming efficiency compared to individual cells. However, the dynamic mechanisms for the formation of sperm bundles have not been fully characterized. In this study, we numerically and experimentally investigate the locomotion of spermatozoa during the transition from individual cells to bundles of two cells. Three consecutive dynamic behaviors are found across the course of the transition: hydrodynamic attraction/repulsion, alignment, and synchronization. The hydrodynamic attraction/repulsion depends on the relative orientation and distance between spermatozoa as well as their flagellar wave patterns and phase shift. Once the heads are attached, we find a stable equilibrium of the rotational hydrodynamics resulting in the alignment of the heads. The synchronization results from the combined influence of hydrodynamic and mechanical cell-to-cell interactions. Additionally, we find that the flagellar beat is regulated by the interactions during the bundle formation, whereby spermatozoa can synchronize their beats to enhance their swimming velocity.

Indexed as

FlagellaModels, BiologicalAnimalsCattleLocomotionMaleSemenSpermatozoaSperm Motilitycollective locomotionflagellar propulsionspermatozoa bundle

Identifiers

PMID36638212
PMCPMC9934168

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.