Biophysical Journal 28: 457-472 (1979)
© 1979 the Biophysical Society

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Quasi-elastic light-scattering spectra of swimming spermatozoa. Rotational and translational effects.

ABSTRACT

The electric field autocorrelation functions of light scattered from normal swimming bull spermatozoa are shown to be dependent on the mean head rotation frequency and not on the translational speed of the cells, as previously believed. This result was obtained from numerical generation of functions in which spermatozoa were modeled as Rayleigh-Gans-Debye ellipsoids having semiaxes a = 0.5 micrometer, b = 2.3 micrometer, and c = 9.0 micrometer. The magnitude of c required to achieve agreement with the experimental data is larger than the half-length of the head region of the cell. This implies that the midpiece, which also lies along c, contributes to the scattering power. Details regarding swimming trajectory and head orientation are included in the model. Analyses of the calculated functions and comparisons with experimentally determined ones suggest that at a scattering angle of 15 degrees the electric field autocorrelation function can be fit a simple Lorentzian whose half-width is inversely proportional to the scattering vector and the mean head rotational frequency.

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