250 Million Attempt The Journey, But Only One Will Make It…

Nulationcalendar .com THE JOURNEY OF THE WINNING SPERM 250 million sperm begin the race to the egg, only one will win 02 Finishing touches Sperm spend the next two weeks getting finishing touches such as tall modifications whilst passing through a long winding tube called the epididymis. OI In the making Sperm production takes about 70 days. It In a typical fertile male, about 1,000 sperm roll off the production line with every heartbeat. 03 The calm before the storm 04 After leaving the epididymis they can remain healthy and motionless for several weeks in the man's body. If ejaculation does not happen often, the older degenerating sperm can damage newer sperm leaving the epididymis. And they're off! Ejaculation - sperm stored at the end of the epididymis are propelled by muscular contractions through a tube called the vas deferens and then into the tube passing down the penis. The average ejaculation of semen contains 250 million sperm. 05 06 Survival of the fittest Sperm must quickly make their way from the vagina to the cervix to survive. Only the fastest, healthiest and the 'just plain luckiest' will make it to the relative safety of the cervix. 99 out of 100 will die trying. Left or right? The next hurdle is how to get through the womb and into the correct falloplan tube. Women have two fallopian tubes (one for each ovary), but only one ovary releases an egg in any given cycle. Sperm must head for the fallopian tube toward the ovary releasing an egg. Those who go the wrong way will have evidently wasted their journey! 07 Choose me... choose me... The fallopian tube entrance is tiny (only a few sperm heads wide) and it acts as a valve only allowing certain sperm Inside. Those that swim too erratically are locked out. Only the selected ones will be allowed in, and go on to continue their quest. 08 Safe haven Only about 100 of the 250 million sperm ejactulaced get this far. Once inside the falloplan tube the sperm are at last in a relatively safe place compared to the rest of their journey so far. Sperm tend to stick to the inner walls waiting for the egg to be released. Almost there The egg is surrounded by a cloud of cells called the cumulus. The sperm must swim using their erratic and frenetic swimming style again (hyperactivation) to get through the cloud of cells before it can reach the egg surface. 09 10 Off they go again Sperm get the signal that the egg has been released. They detach themselves from the inner walls by increasing the beat in their tail to give them extra thrust. This type of Race there! Sperm swim towards the middle of the fallopian tube in the direction of the ovary in order to find the egg that will shortly be coming the other way. swimming is called hyperactivation. 12 One hurdle left At this point of the journey, there are only one or two sperm close enough to the egg with any chance of 13 CLOSED 14 fertilizing It. For the successful sperm, there is one hurdle left - getting inside the egg. Penetration Once reaching the surface of the egg, a bag of enzymes on the top of the sperm head, bursts. The enzymes help dissolve the outer membrane of the egg and in combination with powerful tall thrusts the sperm penetrates the Doors closed Once the sperm is inside an immediate chemical reaction occurs hardening the egg membrane to stop any other sperm from following it. egg. Conception! 15 Over the next few hours the sperm tail is detached (stays outside) and the chromosomes inside the sperm head separate to line up with those from the egg. The process of forming a new baby has begun! Vulationcalendar COLLECT ANALYZE PREDICT.