It is a FALSE claim that XX sperm swim in circles and XY swim straight!

[nuthinbutpink]

I attached this to one of Atomic's posts but I just want to make sure it doesn't get lost.

I just want to update this with the information about the IG claim that XX swim in circles and XY swim straight. This is completely FALSE.

Here is an excerpt from a fertility clinic about sperm motility:

•Sperm Motility: This part of the test assesses how well your sperm can swim. Obviously, the stronger the swimmers, the better as it is quite a journey for the sperm to make it from the uterus to the fallopian tubes. Sperms are evaluated according to a four-level grade system:

•Grade 4 sperm are known to have progressive motility meaning they are the strongest and swim fast in a straight line.

•Grade 3 sperm (non-linear motility) also move forward but tend to travel in a curved or crooked motion.

•Grade 2 sperm are labeled as non-progressive motility because they do not move forward despite the fact that they move their tails.

•Grade 1 sperm are immotile meaning that they fail to move at all.
Ideal sperm quality dictates that a man should have grade 3 or 4 sperm in order to fertilize an egg.

So, the idea that Grade 4 is XY and Grade 3 XX is just completely false and I have no idea where that even comes from! Sperm cannot swim in circles or they would never reach the egg! Dr Wegner, our Embryologist on here also addressed this in her forum- totally false. Just think, if it were true, all the IVF people would get all the right gender if it were that easy! For most of us, it is a 50/50 split at the end of our cycles.

Just trying to address some of the misinformation that is out there!!

[Cinss]

If it doesn't sound right. It probably isn't.

[rainbowflower]

hmm I did wonder...

on another forum don't they do sperm sorting via swim up and then check the sample under a microscope to make sure they swim circular for swaying pink? so maybe they are just filtering off more/less damaged sperm?

[nuthinbutpink]

hmm I did wonder...

on another forum don't they do sperm sorting via swim up and then check the sample under a microscope to make sure they swim circular for swaying pink? so maybe they are just filtering off more/less damaged sperm?

I know they think they are looking for XX sperm but that is impossible. I'm quite certain the embryologists that do GS would have picked up on that!

[rainbowflower]

very true

[atomic sagebrush]

This is one thing I would put money on for being debunked in the future BUT for now, there actually IS a pretty decent study that found that X and Y sperm really DID swim differently...at least for cow sperm.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/1...O;2-L/abstract

I just don't want anyone to think that anyone pulled the idea out of their butts LOL! Sometimes tho, a little science can be a dangerous thing. Studying sperm is REALLY hard to do and a lot of promising studies have been debunked when new technology revealed new information or another way to look at old information.

The entire thing has always sounded a bit farfetched to me as well and it has long been my thinking that people see what they want to see under the microscope...there's a reason why people have to have a lot of training to work in the field.