How Does Sperm Travel In The Female Body

Fertilization can only occur during the woman’s fertile days, because the egg cell is viable and fertile at most 24 hours after ovulation. However, a small amount of fluid is sufficient for this. Because sperm are fertile for between three and five days in a woman’s body, the  time for fertilization begins two days before ovulation and ends the day after ovulation. If fertilization does not occur, the ovum breaks down and the period begins at the end of the cycle.

Ovum Meets Sperm

During ovulation, one or rarely, more eggs are caught by the funnel-shaped end of the tube, which wraps around the ovary, and slowly migrate down the fallopian tube toward the uterus over the next few days. The sperm swim faster towards the egg cell. You only need about an hour for the distance of about 15 cm. For every cm a seed thread travels, it must flick its tail hundreds of times. The goal is the outer, expanded end of the tube. There the sperm cells that have ascended through the vagina meet the fertilizable egg cell.

How The Sperm Is Shown The Way To The Egg Cell

On the fertile days, the sperm receive help on their journey to the egg cell: the cervix sugars that ensure that the sperm cells remain alive and mobile. The favorable environment shows the seminal threads the way. Without this guidance, the sperm would swim in circles. In addition, during this time the otherwise closed cervix becomes permeable for sperm: the mucous plug is liquefied by the movement of estrogen, so that the sperm cells can migrate up through the canal. However, a few hundred seminal threads make the way and buzz around the ovum that is ready for fertilization. This, or its outer covering, sends attractants to the sperm it has selected, and that is not necessarily the fastest. The egg cell opens its tough covering for this one seminal thread. At the same moment, access is blocked for all other sperm. This is how nature prevents overfertilization with more than one sperm. The remaining sperm cells die soon after.