The Month In A Life Of A

Gamete (sperm) Essay, Research Paper

A Month in The Life of A Gamete

My name is RAMBO. I and my millions of brothers and sister gametes have been confined in our prison like holding cells called testes. Each day many more gametes are produced and held captive inside the testes which hang in a storage sac called the scrotum.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN HERE? Everything is moving. Back and forth this way, that way. Has everyone’s wish finally come true?. Will I be among all other lucky gametes, to boldly go where millions of gametes have gone before? There have been legends told by the elders of what we must do. To venture into the unknown to find a large flying ball like object, known only as “THE EGG”. However other stories have been told. That if Peter is wearing a “hard hat” nothing will become of me and my millions of brother, and sister gametes. We will all die in this playtex helmet.

Oh my gosh. The gates into the unknown are opening. I must begin my journey with the others. All of a sudden we are forced out of our home, we go at lightning speed down a long tube, known to us as the vas deferens. We are coated with a lubricating protective fluid like substance as we pass the Cowper’s gland and down the urethra. I start swimming along with everyone else so that I don’t get lost, when suddenly I see an opening up ahead. We are ejected from the tube into another long narrow tube called the vagina.. With only one way to go we start to swim using our oval head, which has a nucleus, a long neck region filled with mitochondria, and a long tail called the flagellum. Some are not able to make it this far. We must forget them and carry on. I look around to see brothers and sisters I have never met, but there is Jared. Jared is a strange looking gamete. He has two tails positioned on different sides of his head. He is only able to swim in circles. I start my journey up the passage way through a narrow opening called the cervix, and continue upward whipping my tail like flagellum back and forth into a large opening called the uterus. We travel in groups of a couple million. All we know is to swim for our lives, as our coating of special substances we received at the beginning of our journey will eventually disappear and we will lose our protection. The journey upwards lasts a day and a half when we came to a fork in the road called the fallopian tubes. The only way for us to be successful is to split up and hope we have chosen the right passageway. Many gametes have died now, some have lost their way, others have been killed by acid while some have been attacked white blood cells. Almost two days of constant swimming, and I still feel lost. We enter a long passage called the oviduct. In the distance it looks as if a large ball if flying towards us. We keep swimming for about a minute or two when I think of the legends told by the elders. “A large ball flying toward you.” I stopped almost immediately and yelled out. That’s “THE EGG”. Then I swim like I’ve never swam before, toward “THE EGG” as everyone follows me rapidly. We all know the first one there will have the best chance, so I swim for all I’m worth. In the distance I see Jared, I wonder how he would ever get this far, however it looks as if he cannot penetrate the egg because his head will not bore a hole into the egg. I reach the egg before all the rest of my brothers and sisters, and start to dig into the egg using my oval shaped head to create a hole big enough for me to fit. Eventually everyone else gets to the egg and starts to bore. There are only a few thousand of us left but now we must work together for many sperm are needed to produce a certain enzyme to break down the egg or ovum wall. I work harder than I worked before my head is through, then all of my is through. I’ve Won!! Now no other sperm is allowed to penetrate as a certain chemical reaction is released to prevent any other sperm to enter. I fertilize the ovum as we travel down the oviduct towards the uterus. Several changes occur in the ovum and within 5 days we become implanted in the uterus. My job is done, now we will have to wait for 9 months until the baby’s birth.