...To trace the process of the sperm successfully reaching the egg and the ability to start fertilization depends on several factors. One being the sperm must be capable of propelling through the vagina and cervix to reach the egg. Two, the conditions must be just right for the sperm to travel through the layers of cervical mucus that guard the entrance to the uterus. Three, the sperm must have the capability of converting to a form that can penetrate the cell membrane of the egg. Jumping back a few steps you can follow the path that the semen follows starting at ejaculation. This starts with the semen forming into a gel that protects it from the acidic environment of the vagina. The gel is liquefied by the prostate gland within 20 to 30 minutes by enzymes. This liquefaction is key to free the sperm for transportation to occur. The seminal plasma is then left in the vagina following ejaculation, and the sperm continues its journey. The protected sperm starts to travel through the layers of cervical mucus that guard the entrance to the uterus. This is easier for the sperm during ovulation because the barrier becomes thinner and changes its acidity levels. This in turns creates a friendlier environment for the sperm. The cervical mucus in turn also acts as a reservoir for extended sperm survival while traveling to the uterus. Once the sperm has entered the uterus through the cervical mucus the woman’s contractions, propel the sperm further upward into the fallopian tubes. This...
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...Week 1 Assignment: The Sperm and the Egg Nathaniel Morris PSY/265 3/18/2012 Nicole Pansey Week 1 Assignment: The Sperm and the Egg Many of us have heard about the birds and the bees. Most parents find this story to better illustrate how conception happens. When a young child asks their parent “Where do babies come from”, a parent may find it hard to look in their young child’s eyes, and describe exactly what happens. The actual scientific process may be harder to explain, but will be more useful for the child when they get older. It would probably be more effective with a variety of visual aids, and preparation in order to present this to an adolescent. Deciding at what age to tell your child the scientific version should depend on the parent. The “birds and bees story” may be more appropriate for a younger child, and the scientific version can be more explained when they are a little more mature. A girl should know about the sexual reproductive system when she starts menstruating. If she is not taught properly, she may not understand what is going on with her body, and may wind up pregnant at an early age. In order to explain the scientific version, first, you would have to start out by explaining the immediate male and female body parts that are involved; the penis and vagina. The inner part of the vagina consists of two ovaries, the cervix, and the uterus that are all connected to the uterus by the fallopian tubes. These are all structures that make up the...
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...THE SPERM AND THE EGG The Sperm and The Egg PSY/ 265 March 20, 2014 I am Egg. I have taken the long, dark journey into the infundibulum. This is the outermost part of the woman’s fallopian tube. Sperm, my soul mate, has been waiting for me to make this trip for an eternity. The sperm is the germ cell of a male. We can now finally meet. I have been waiting for this instant for so long now. I am very much looking forward to meeting him. I am one of some 400,000 eggs that have developed in this woman’s ovaries since puberty. Some 400 of us have survived to this point in her life and have ripened into ova. I finally get to be the one ova that is released during this month’s ovulation. The other ova have their growth suppressed by me for this special event. My home has always been the ovary. I am now moving into a new spot in town, the fallopian tube. Here I will await my friend Sperm’s arrival. It has taken me some time to get from the ovary to this point. Now, only two weeks remain before the woman’s next menstruation. I am so small that this 4 inch tube has taken me a long time to traverse. The cilia that line the tube helped to push me along down the tube’s length. The cilia are miniscule hair-like structures that make this possible. They were able to move me along at a rate of an inch each day. Today is my first full day in the fallopian tube. I trust that Sperm will be making...
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...By: Lisa Smith This is a story about Jim the Sperm, and Lisa the Egg. This is a very exiting day for Jim and Lisa for they are going to get fertilized. Fertilization is when Jim and Lisa will fuse together and become a new individual. Lisa has been waiting for this day for 22 years since her egg was produced, when she was in the fetal ovaries, along with five million who are waiting to be chosen. For Lisa haven been the lucky one others she was chosen. Jim feels like he has won a million bucks for he was the only one out of 500 million mobile sperm to be discharged. Today in just one ejaculation that will be fertilized. Jim’s life begins in the somniferous tubes, inside the testes. Where he has been for 2 months maturing. Before the great ejaculation, he moves himself to the epididymis awaiting; the great push that pushes him through urethra. When Jim enters the urethra, he is mixed with a secretion from the prostrate gland. This contains substance that is called ciliate his long awaited journey to Lisa. First of all Jim the sperm and the prostate secretion are discharged with immense forced by the way of a contractions of the pelvic muscles and then they followed by a sugar-containing fluid from the seminal vesicles. From there he exits the penis into the vagina and he begins his journey to fertilization upon entering the vagina he has a journey himself. For Jim is a high swimmer and is on his way to the fallopian tubes where he will meet Lisa. On his journey Jim will start...
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...The Sperm and the Egg: A Story of How Charlie and Penelope Met and Fell in Love PSY/265 March 10, 2013 The Sperm and the Egg Many people have had to sit through the birds and the bees’ explanation of where babies come from. Parents use this because it is a way of explanation without feeling as uncomfortable as one would be if they had to look their child in the eye and describe exactly what happens. This explanation would probably be easier for a parent than going through the difficult task of clarification of the scientific process even though it will be much more useful later on in life. Because every parent has to explain the process no matter the method, it would probably be more effective if the use of visual aids that show each of the steps in how the process works. However, it should be age appropriate and at the parents discretion. Both girls and boys need this information (sexual reproductive system) explained to them in any case because if left in the dark, not only would the girl be at a disadvantage when she starts menstruating, but they could end up being a parent too young in their lives. These things can be a major shock if unprepared. To explain how the scientific version works, one would have to first look at and explain the male and female body parts used; the vagina and penis. The vagina consists of the cervix, uterus, and two ovaries which are connected to the fallopian tubes. All of these complex structures are what makes the woman’s reproductive system...
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...Running head: THE SPERM AND THE EGG Assignment: The Sperm and the Egg 1 YOUR NAME PSY/265 DATE NAME OF PROFESSOR The Sperm and the Egg It has certainly been a wild adventure on my way to the infundibulum, which serves as the outer component of a female’s fallopian tube (Nevid, Rathus & Fichner-Rathus, 2005). My name is ‘Egg’. In fact, all of my siblings share the same exact name! I am anxiously awaiting my friends to arrive. They are all named ‘Sperm’ and are considered to be male germ cells. It has been quite a long time since I last saw them. I have been preparing for their arrival for quite some time and cannot wait to see them! It was a daunting task to be here in the first place. The ovary in which I live near had roughly 400,000 other eggs; however, when she was younger, she experienced puberty; as a result, only 1% of us made it to transformed into ripened ova. I am finally able to be the ova responsible for suppressing the development of additional ova in order to be discharged during the ovulation period (Nevid, Rathus, et al., 2005). As soon as I made my journey away from the ovary, I travelled all of the way to the fallopian tube. I am now still in the fallopian tube waiting for my friends to come over. It took a great amount of effort for me to journey through the fallopian tube; as such, ovulation occurs roughly every two weeks prior to menstruation. The tube I travelled through is only four inches in length; however, in order for me to be...
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...The Sperm and the Egg Chelsie Robinson University of Phoenix The Sperm and the Egg This story is about Drogo the sperm and Dany the egg and their journey to fertilization. Drogo along with 500 million other warriors race to get to the beautiful Dany to get the chance to fertilize her. Drogo’s life begins in the seminiferous tubules also called the testes. The testes are the male gonads and secret sex hormones and produce mature germ cells (Rathus, Nevid, & Fichner-Rathus, 2011). He has been training and maturing for about two months in the testes. He then moves to the epididymis to wait for the journey to begin. The epididymis is a tube that sits on the back of each testicle and stores sperm (Rathus, Nevid, & Fichner-Rathus, 2011). He then passes through the urethra. While in the urethra he is partnered with a secretion from the prostate gland which helps him make the journey to Dany a little easier. The prostate gland lies under the bladder and secrets prostatic fluid, which gives semen its characteristics (Rathus, Nevid, & Fichner-Rathus, 2011). Drogo and the secretion are released with force by the contractions of the pelvic muscles. They are followed by a substance from the seminal vesicles, which is rich in fructose which helps nourish Drogo on his journey. Drogo then exits the penis and enters the vagina where fertilization starts. Drogo is ejaculated into the vaginal cavity, along with his fellow warriors, when the penis is inside of the vagina during...
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...The Sperm and the Egg Well, to better understand how babies are born, you have to understand how the entire process works between the sperm and the egg. The reproductive system of the male has two essential functions and those are production of sperm and the delivery of the sperm to the reproductive tract of the female. The sperm production takes place in the testes (male’s testicles). Basically, each testicle has to produce and start spermatogenesis. Spermatogenesis has several different processes that start at the primary spermatocyte and go to secondary spermatocyte, into spermatids then finally into plain sperm with a mid-piece tail. Testosterone is needed for the making of sperm. The responsibility of the female in a successful reproduction is definitely higher than that of the male. The female must produce eggs, be able to receive sperm from the male, provide the right environment to host the fertilization and implantation and have the ability to nourish the developing baby before and after birth. Egg formation takes place in the ovaries. For a woman to become pregnant, the sperm must enter the vagina within 5 days before or on the exact day of ovulation. Ovulation takes place about two weeks after the beginning of menstruation. Sexual activity dilates the arterioles that supply blood to the penis. The vagina is penetrated when blood accumulates in three different sinuses in the penis, and it becomes enlarged because of pressure. Ejaculation occurs...
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...Sperm is produced in the seminiferous tubules of the testes and are stored in the epididymis. (t From the epididymis the sperm travel along the vas deferens. Sperm then continue along the vas deferens and pass by the seminal vesicle and prostate where fluids are added. Eventually this mixture reaches the urethra, passing by Cowper's gland where more fluids are added, to be ejaculated out of the penis as semen. The fluids come from the prostate gland, and the seminal vesicle. Its purpose is to act as a transported for the sperm. It provides the sperm a way to move throughout the vagina. The Ovarian cycle takes place in the ovaries. It is the normal cycle that includes development of an ovarian follicle, rupture of the follicle, discharge of the ovum, and formation and regression of a corpus luteum. The uterine cycle is the building up and breaking down of the uterine lining or menstruation. The ovarian cycle happens first about a week or so before uterine cycle. The ovarian cycle happens first and if the egg is not fertilized by a sperm, then a week or so later the ovarian cycle, or menstruation happens. LH causes secretion of testosterone and other androgens by the interstitial cells. FSH stimulates the production of sperm. Testosterone plays a key role in the development of male reproductive tissues like the testis and prostate. It also promotes secondary sexual characteristics like increased muscle, bone mass, and the growth of body hair. LH levels rise during ovulation...
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...In fertilization, the organs that make up the reproductive system in males plays the role of producing and discharging sperm within the female reproductive tract. The penis, scrotum, testes, sperm, epididymis, and accessory organs make up the reproductive organs in a male. In addition to being used for sexual intercourse and the pathway for semen, the penis is also where urine is passed through. The scrotum is a pouch located below the base of the penis, with two compartments. The compartments of the scrotum hold the testes. Each testicle is held in place by a spermatic cord. The spermatic cord is a structure that contains the vas deferens, blood vessels and nerves, and the cremaster muscle. This muscle controls the movement of testicle within the scrotum when there is a change in temperature and sexual stimulation (Rathus & Fichner-Rathus, 2011). The testes are responsible for the production of mature germ cells and the secretion of sex hormones. The epididymis is a tube that stores sperm and lies against the back wall of each testicle. The accessory glands of the male respiratory system include the seminal vesicles, the prostate and Cowper’s gland. Seminal vesicles are 2 inches in length and located behind the bladder. The seminal vesicles open into ejaculatory ducts and secrete fluids that combine with sperm to keep it nourished and active. Sperm must be active in order to contribute to the act of fertilization. Sitting beneath the bladder is the prostate gland...
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...Why would ski/snowboard culture be any different? The gender makeup of the people skiing and snowboarding might be explained by the 1996 article “The Egg and the Sperm” by Emily Martin in An Introduction to Women’s Studies: Gender in a Transnational World (2006). “The Egg and the Sperm” explores how women’s and men’s reproductive systems translate to how the different genders are perceived within society. One main point of the article is that women are wasteful and passive while the male is viewed as strong, powerful, and energetic. This view is based in the reproductive system because “the egg is seen as large and passive. It does not move or journey, but passively ‘is transported’, ‘is swept’, or even ‘drifts’ along the fallopian tube. In utter contrast, sperm are small, ‘streamlined’, and invariably active” (11). Sports then, are more likely to be male dominated because men are more active and powerful than the women. However, my observations of skiing and snowboarding may be more female heavy because such theories are challenged based on a lack of scientific evidence for them and that one cannot endow “cellular entities with personhood” since then (13). Perhaps this gender difference also...
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...eliminate a dangerous computer programmer in 007 Goldeneye, it is pretty mighty. Jokes aside, the lesson to be learned here is that the words you use can truly cause harm to others, so can metaphors and messages that you can convey through your language in reputable publications. A situation that can represent this concept can be clearly discerned in David H. Freedman’s article “New Theory on How The Aggressive Egg Attracts Sperm”. Written in 1992, this article brings to light an unnerving reality about the world of research, that metaphors and preconceptions that many researchers may have can have genuine effects on the types of research being performing or more alarmingly, the interpretations of results. At it’s essence, this article describes a series of observations and reports done by an Emily Martin, researcher at John Hopkins, revolving around an allegedly male-centric perspective that had perpetuated in the field of reproductive science, citing to the evidence of researchers using diction and metaphors that reflect the idea that the sperm is a rough warrior and the egg is a damsel-in-distress archetype (however there is reputable evidence that points to quite the...
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...Egg Makes Sure That Sperm Don't Get Too Old The article primary’s claim is that the result is an important step towards future stem cell therapy (science daily). I. Observe and Generalize: • I would like to learn more on how men are fertile throughout life. I would like to find out the how this is a contrast to women? II. Hypothesis: • The subject and/or hypothesis of this claim, is that the fertilizing sperm can get help from the egg to rejuvenate (science daily). III. Experiment (science daily)process: • The risk of chromosomal abnormalities in the fetus is highly correlated to the age of the mother, but is nearly independent of the age of the father. • Each time a cell divides, the genetic material becomes shorter. • The ends of the chromosomes, known as "telomeres", are important for the genetic stability of the cell and they act as a DNA clock that measures the age of the cell. • The cell stops dividing and dies when the telomeres become too short. • The discovery that the egg cell can extend the telomeres of a fertilizing sperm cell is important in the development of stem cell therapy. • Stem cell therapy involves replacing the cell nucleus in unfertilized egg with a nucleus from a somatic cell that has come from a patient who needs a stem cell transplantation. • When the cell has divided a few times, it is possible to harvest stem cells that are then allowed to mature to the cell type that the recipient needs. IV. Interpretation of the Data: •...
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...Chapter 4 * Figure 4-2 * Modification of a germ cell to form a mammalian sperm. (A) The centriole produces a long flagellum at what will be the posterior end of the sperm, and the golgi apparatus forms the acrosomal vesicle at the future anterior end. The mitochondria collect around the flagellum near the base of the haploid nucleus and become incorporated into the midpiece ("neck") of the sperm. The remaining cytoplasm is jettisoned and the nucleus condenses. The size of the mature sperm has been enlarged relative to the other stages. (B) Mature bull sperm. The DNA is stained blue with DAPI, the mitochondria are stained green, and the tubulin of the flagellum is stained red. (Q Acrosome of mouse sperm, stained green by the fusion protein proacrosin-GFR * Sperm can travel in aqueous environment to reach the egg because of the flagellum * Figure 4-3 * The force for sperm propulsion is provided by dynein, a protein attached to the microtubules (see Figure 4.3B). Dynein is an ATPase, an enzyme that hydrolyzes ATP, converting the released chemical energy into mechanical energy to propel the sperm. * (Bj Interpretive diagram of the axoneme, showing the "9 + 2" arrangement of the microtubules and other flagellar components. The dynein arms contain the ATPases that provide the energy for flagellar movement. (C) Association of tubulin protofilaments into a microtubule double. One portion of the...
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...vagina. He releases millions of sperm when ejaculation occurs. And the sperm have been deposited they have a long and arduous journey ahead of them, like salmon entering the mouth of a river to swim upstream to spawn. Some of the sperm swim straight up into the fallopian tubes through the cervix and uterus. - And some of them are so fast, that sperms have been found in the tubes in as little as a few minutes after ejaculation. I’m one of them joining the rides. Some sperms die in the acidic vaginal fluid; and some enter the cervical mucus and cervical crypts. During this time, the sperms are released in small numbers and these continue to swim towards the fallopian tubes. Over the millions of sperms released in an ejaculate, only a few hundred of us will make the arduous trip unto the egg successfully. Perhaps this is why so many millions of sperms are produced in the first place even though only one is needed to fertilize the egg - because the wastage is so prodigal. During the time the sperm spend in the female reproductive tract, while swimming towards the egg, they acquire the capacity to fertilize it - a process called capacitation. When the sperms reach the corona cells (only a few hundred successfully make the trip, guided by chemicals produced by the egg which serve as guiding beacons to the sperms) they become hyperactivated - they start beating their tails in frenzy. This is useful because it provides the mechanical energy the sperm head needs to burrow its way through...
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