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All About Sperm

What You Need to Know About Sperm to Conceive

By Teri Brown

The way that the sperm finds its way to the fallopian tubes is a miracle by itself. This is when sperm motility comes into play. A good healthy sperm has what is called progressive motility. This is to say it swims in a fairly straight line and has the ability to get where it is supposed to go. Sperm with non-progressive motility tend to swim in circles, getting nowhere.

"Sperm have been shown to appear in the fallopian tubes as early as 10 minutes after deposition into the vagina," says Dr. Lipshultz. "A steady state of sperm is seen in the fallopian tubes after 45 minutes."

According to Dr. Lipshultz, the sperm and egg send molecular signals to each other that are referred to as "chemotactic" factors. "This is the same way that many cells in the body communicate with one another," says Dr. Lipshultz. "This signaling mechanism is complex, and researchers are not certain which are the exact messengers in this process."

Dr. Abe Halfen is an infertility specialist in Miami with South Florida Institute for Reproductive Medicine. He says that once the sperm is ejaculated into the woman's vagina, it will pass through the cervix and enter the uterus aided by its tail movement. "It progresses forwardly and enters the fallopian tubes and, also aided by the cilia from the fallopian tubes, reaches the ampullar region of the tube," he says. "If ovulation was successful and the egg has entered the fimbriated portion of the tube, the sperm will penetrate it."

Dr. Halfen says that the sperm willsurvive for three to five days or perhaps longer in a woman's cervix in the presence of good mucous. The sperm left in the vagina are destroyed by acidity of vaginal secretions within hours.

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• When He Won't Change to Start a Family: Your Partner's Preconception Health Matters
• Join the discussion on our Family.com community!
• An At-home "Sample": Testing for Sperm Concentration in the Privacy of Your Home