Electrochemistry as an interfacial probe for realising physicochemical insights into the dynamics of bio-convection of human sperm cells

电化学作为界面探针，实现对人类精子细胞生物对流动力学的物理化学洞察

• 批准号: EP/G020833/1
• 负责人: Jay Wadhawan
• 金额: $ 32.95万
• 依托单位: University of Hull
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2009 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FG020833%2F1
• 关键词: Electrochemistry; interfacial; probe; realising; physicochemical

With the currently increasing social importance of efficient in vitro fertilisation (IVF) protocols, this research seeks to develop new, effective, and sophisticated tools for the IVF laboratory that probe the global and statistical fertilising potential probability of an ejaculate sample. Spermatozoa are amongst the smallest of all cells in humans and generally possess an oval head (four thousandths of a millimetre long, two-to-three thousandths of a millimetre wide, whilst being maximally one-and-a-half thousandths of a millimetre thick), with a tail (flagellum) which, at fifty-five thousandths of a millimetre long is typically equivalent to the diameter of individual Caucasian hair strands. Their shape is correlated with their biological function - these cells ( biological particles ) move (via convection and diffusion) from a point of entry in the female (at the cervical os) to an ultimate destination, the ovum (female gamete). This journey is arduous, since the presence of, amongst other things, cervical mucus, serves as a barrier to sperm which have poor motion (hydrodynamics). Surprisingly, in normal fertile males, up to 90% of the 40 million sperm cells per ejaculate may by physically abnormal, exhibiting defects in one or several regions of the cell including head size and shape and tail defects; the occurrence of conjoined sperm is not uncommon. These deformations have implications regarding the ability of individual sperm cells to swim through the female genital tract. Yet it is not merely the physical size and shape of individual sperm cells which controls male sub-fertility; fertilisation requires cells which are not only active physically, but also able to respond to a chemical stimulus of its local environment. How sperm cells respond to chemical stimulus is an relatively new research area in andrology, and is complicated by the fact that sperm membranes have a charge and therefore cause the medium in which they are deposited to take on a local structure (an electrical double layer or ionic atmosphere ). This latter property of these cells enables their detection at electrified interfaces of comparable (or smaller) size to the sperm cells, since the interaction of cell with interface will enable electrical current (charge flow) through the interface. This current is tiny, but can be monitored using sophisticated microphones in an analagous way that a kick of a football (a large particle interacting with a comparably-sized surface) is clearly heard on radio- or TV-broadcasted football matches. The size of this electrical current and its decay in time provides information regarding the biological particle size and shape, and can allow for the determination of the individual sperm cell motility. Moreover, redox transformation at electrified interfaces (viz. electrolysis), or, alternatively, light-induced synthesis (photolysis) is able to generate, at controlled distances close to the interface, defined quantities of substances which are able to stimulate chemically sperm cells. This allows for the determination of the physico-chemical effects on individual sperm cells within an ejaculate sample, and thus may lead to inferences regarding the fertilising capability of the sample.

随着目前有效的体外受精（IVF）方案的社会重要性日益增加，本研究旨在为IVF实验室开发新的，有效的和复杂的工具，以探索射精样本的全球和统计受精潜在概率。精子是人类所有细胞中最小的细胞之一，通常具有椭圆形的头部（千分之四毫米长，千分之二至千分之三毫米宽，同时最大为千分之一毫米厚），尾部（鞭毛）为千分之五十五毫米长，通常相当于高加索人头发丝的直径。它们的形状与它们的生物功能相关-这些细胞（生物颗粒）从女性的入口（宫颈口）移动（通过对流和扩散）到最终目的地，卵子（女性配子）。这段旅程是艰难的，因为宫颈粘液的存在是精子运动（流体动力学）不良的障碍。令人惊讶的是，在正常生育的男性中，每次射精的4000万个精子细胞中有高达90%可能是身体异常的，表现出细胞的一个或多个区域的缺陷，包括头部大小和形状以及尾部缺陷;连体精子的发生并不罕见。这些变形暗示着个体精子细胞游过女性生殖道的能力。然而，控制男性低生育力的不仅仅是单个精子细胞的物理大小和形状;受精需要的细胞不仅在物理上活跃，而且能够对当地环境的化学刺激做出反应。精子细胞如何对化学刺激作出反应是男科中一个相对较新的研究领域，并且由于精子膜具有电荷，因此导致它们沉积的介质呈现局部结构（双电层或离子气氛）的事实而变得复杂。这些细胞的后一种性质使得它们能够在与精细胞相当（或更小）尺寸的带电界面处被检测到，因为细胞与界面的相互作用将使得电流（电荷流动）能够通过界面。这种电流很小，但可以使用复杂的麦克风以类似的方式进行监测，即在无线电或电视广播的足球比赛中清楚地听到足球的踢球（一个大颗粒与相当大小的表面相互作用）。该电流的大小及其随时间的衰减提供了关于生物颗粒大小和形状的信息，并且可以允许确定个体精子细胞运动性。此外，在带电界面处的氧化还原转化（即电解），或者可选地，光诱导合成（光解）能够在靠近界面的受控距离处产生限定量的物质，这些物质能够化学刺激精子细胞。这允许确定对射精样品中的单个精子细胞的物理化学影响，从而可能导致关于样品的受精能力的推断。

项目成果

Energy Conversion & Storage via Electrochemical Systems

能量转换

• 作者: Jay Wadhawan (Author)

A model for efficient, semiconductor-free solar cells via supersensitized electron transfer cascades in photogalvanic devices.

通过光电器件中的超敏电子转移级联实现高效、无半导体太阳能电池的模型。

• DOI: 10.1039/c3cp00072a
• 发表时间: 2013
• 期刊: PCCP
• 作者: Halls JE

Empowering the smart grid: can redox batteries be matched to renewable energy systems for energy storage?

• DOI: 10.1039/c3ee23708g
• 发表时间: 2013-02
• 期刊: Energy and Environmental Science
• 影响因子: 32.5
• 作者: Jonathan E. Halls;Amanda Hawthornthwaite;Russell J. Hepworth;N. Roberts;Kevin J. Wright;Yan Zhou;S. Haswell;Stephanie K. Haywood;S. Kelly;N. Lawrence;J. Wadhawan

Biphasic Voltammetry of N , N , N' , N' -Tetraphenyl- para -phenylenediamine Microdroplets, Microparticles and Microparticle Suspensions

N , N , N , N -四苯基对苯二胺微滴、微粒和微粒悬浮液的双相伏安法

• DOI: 10.1002/elan.201000633
• 发表时间: 2011
• 期刊: Electroanalysis
• 影响因子: 3
• 作者: Halls J