Running head: THE SPERM AND THE EGG

Assignment: The Sperm and the Egg 1
YOUR NAME
PSY/265
DATE
NAME OF PROFESSOR

The Sperm and the Egg
It has certainly been a wild adventure on my way to the infundibulum, which serves as the outer component of a female’s fallopian tube (Nevid, Rathus & Fichner-Rathus, 2005). My name is ‘Egg’. In fact, all of my siblings share the same exact name! I am anxiously awaiting my friends to arrive. They are all named ‘Sperm’ and are considered to be male germ cells. It has been quite a long time since I last saw them. I have been preparing for their arrival for quite some time and cannot wait to see them!
It was a daunting task to be here in the first place. The ovary in which I live near had roughly 400,000 other eggs; however, when she was younger, she experienced puberty; as a result, only 1% of us made it to transformed into ripened ova. I am finally able to be the ova responsible for suppressing the development of additional ova in order to be discharged during the ovulation period (Nevid, Rathus, et al., 2005).
As soon as I made my journey away from the ovary, I travelled all of the way to the fallopian tube. I am now still in the fallopian tube waiting for my friends to come over. It took a great amount of effort for me to journey through the fallopian tube; as such, ovulation occurs roughly every two weeks prior to menstruation. The tube I travelled through is only four inches in length; however, in order for me to be prepared to meet my friends, I was required to travel through certain areas of the tube. On my journey, I met all kinds of people. Some of the most memorable people I met called themselves ‘Cilia’. They had a distinguishable appearance. They had small hair-like projections that assisted me in pushing me throughout my journey. With their help, I was able to travel nearly one inch every single day.
I have only been in the fallopian tube for a short while; however, if my ‘Sperm’ friends do not arrive within two days after my leaving of the ovary, it will become impossible for me to become fertilized (Nevid, Rathus, et al., 2005). As a result, I am sure you can imagine that I am extremely nervous about how their journey is going. I remember talking to them awhile back about their previous journeys and it was no picnic! My friends began their life in the male testicle and underwent a process of spermatogenesis that took nearly 72 days (Nevid, Rathus, et al., 2005)! This was done in order for them to meet me in the fallopian tube. I remember them telling me that I only possess the female (X) chromosome, and that they have the capacity to possess either a female (X) or male (Y) chromosome. If you ask me, I would say that they have a really important task; they essentially determine if we will become a male or female embryo throughout the fertilization process (Nevid, Rathus, et al., 2005).
When my friends were ready for departure, they travelled all the way to the epididymis. They then were required to wait an additional two to four weeks in order to grow in such a way that they can move to the Vans Deferens tube. Once that was completed, they journeyed into the seminal vesicle; it is in this location where they were properly sustained from seminal fluid that was made up of fructose. This fluid assisted them in progressing with their journey. When my friends move, it looks as if they are swimming; they all have tails that help them get from one place to the next (Noorafshan & Karbalay-Doust, 2010). Prior to this, they needed assistance from contractions within the Vans Deferens, epididymis, and cilia (Nevid, Rathus, et al., 2005).
As this was taking place, additional organs such as the prostate and Cowper’s gland were involved in making secretions to be mixed with my friends and seminal vesicle fluid in order to create semen. As soon as my friends established themselves as a component of the ejaculate, they are all ready to be pushed out through the male’s penis during sexual intercourse. Once this takes place, my friends can commence their journey to meet me where I am now - in the fallopian tube (Nevid, Rathus, et al., 2005).
My friends need to move rather fast as soon as ejaculation occurs. It is amazing how millions of my friends race via the cervical canal and onto the uterus in order to be the first one to get to an ovum residing within the fallopian tube (Noorafshan & Karbalay-Doust, 2010). It is extremely difficult for all of my friends to come and see me; typically only one is able to penetrate my outer-lining. As soon as a sperm penetrates my lining, a chemical change will take place that will permit us to form an embryo. This embryo will travel all of the way down the fallopian tube in order to reach the uterus until the actual birth takes place. Now that you know all of this, I am sure you can appreciate how difficult it is to meet me.

References
Noorafshan, A., & Karbalay-Doust, S. (2010). A simple method for unbiased estimating of ejaculated sperm tail length in subjects with normal and abnormal sperm motility. Micron, 41(1), 96-99. doi:10.1016/j.micron.2009.09.002.
Rathus, S. P., Nevid, J. S., & Fichner-Rathus, L. F. (2005). Human sexuality in a world of diversity (6th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.