10 facts about semen that you didn’t know

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10 facts about semen that you didn’t know

1. Abnormal normal sperm. At the human "machine for the production of sperm" now and then fly settings. How else can you explain that sperm does not look uniform? 90% of them are deformed: someone has two tails, others have huge heads, rolled tails - the list goes on and on. This price is monogamy. In those species, the fertilization of which may occur in more than one male sperm (in cats, for example), one sperm cell is more like the other.
2. A little bit. An adult stallion (a horse, not a man) releases about 60-100 ml of sperm at a time, a bull - 40-50 ml, and a man ... only 2-6 ml, that is, about half a teaspoon.
3. Sperm is wearing hats. Okay, not really hats, but on their heads, there is a cupped structure called an acrosome. It is a membrane vesicle that contains chemical compounds that are released when a sperm cell attaches to an egg cell. These substances dissolve the surface of the egg so that the sperm can penetrate inside.
4. One testicle will still work. If, as a result of an accident, the boy loses one testicle, the second will still be able to produce enough sperm to conceive a child. It may even increase. The famous cyclist Lance Armstrong lost one testicle because of cancer, but this did not prevent him from becoming the father of five children.
5. Tough competition. For the right to fertilize the egg, about 200 million sperm are competing.
6. The workshop never closes. Women are born with a fixed set of eggs for life, but for men everything is different. They produce sperm every day all day. All life. As the man gets older, his sperm becomes more sluggish, but the mechanism still functions 24/7.
7. Immunity does not like them. In our immune system, there are special antigens that determine a cell alien to them, which must be destroyed without fail, because it is an enemy, or its own, and must be protected. But this system considers only those cells that were available at the time of birth, and the rest - strangers, crackers. Sperm is produced by boys at 11-13 years old, so immunity will not be to their liking. That is why its formation occurs in special tubules that are isolated from the immune system. Unfortunately, sometimes the mechanism fails, and male or female immunity, meeting with sperm, destroys them.
8. Postmortal fertilization. Technology does not stand still. Today, ART (Assisted Reproductive Technology) programs after the death of biological parents are no longer a plot from a science fiction novel. Today there are two options for post-mortem reproduction: for fertilization, they use cryopreserved sperm (either egg) or take sperm from a newly deceased man. The first pregnancy event from post-mortem fertilization occurred in Britain in 1997. This program still raises many medical and legal issues.
9. Lifetime. As soon as the sperm leave the body with the seed, the countdown of their life begins. But they do not die within a few hours, as some think. Their lifespan is 3-5 days. Yes, and "kill" them is not so simple - usually sperm dies from dehydration.
10. Sperm has its own health. Like any other system of our body, it needs support. For its recovery, it is desirable for a man to follow the principles of healthy eating, he should not smoke and drink a lot of alcohol. One study showed that three or more cups of coffee per day reduce the concentration of sperm, but those who consume a lot of cereals, everything is in order with concentration and mobility.