Sperm motility may help move more than male gametes in the future. Reproductive biologists have found that the molecular pathway that enables sperm to swim might also be used to power nanoscale medical devices. The energy could potentially be harnessed to carry out tasks such as releasing drugs and performing mechanical functions inside the body.
“Our work is . . . an attempt to create a power source that others can use to drive different nanorobots or nanoscale devices,” said Alex Travis, VMD, PhD, assistant professor of veterinary medicine at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Travis presented his work at the recent American Society for Cell Biology's 47th Annual meeting, held in Washington, DC.
Travis and colleagues have taken enzymes that provide sperm with energy and tethered them to a solid inorganic substitute, finding that even when bound, the enzymes remain functional. These enzymes, which convert sugar into adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and generate energy, are part of the glycolytic process that sperm exploit to deliver energy to the tails that power their swimming.
“Sperm have tweaked the enzymes of glycolysis so that they can attach to a solid structure that runs down the major part of the tail,” said Travis. “Our idea was to borrow that strategy,” he explained.
The researchers modified the enzymes further so that they would attach to a synthetic structure rather than sperm. So far, the team has succeeding in enabling only 2 of the enzymes involved in the glycolytic pathway to adhere to a chip coated with nickel-nitrilotriacetic acid. But with both attached to the same support, the enzymes acted in series, with the product of the first reaction serving as substrate for the second.
Travis states that these are only the first steps in reproducing the full glycolytic pathway on nanoscale materials, but he notes that the work serves as proof of principle that the glycolytic pathway in sperm might be used to produce ATP on microscopic clinical devices, such as tiny pumps to deliver medications.
Country-Specific Mortality and Growth Failure in Infancy and Yound Children and Association With Material Stature
Use interactive graphics and maps to view and sort country-specific infant and early dhildhood mortality and growth failure data and their association with maternal
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