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. 1984 Apr;45(4):659–662. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(84)84207-1

Mechanical hypothesis of sperm penetration.

D P Green, R D Purves
PMCID: PMC1434915  PMID: 6722260

Abstract

Sperm have generally been supposed to penetrate the zona pellucida surrounding the mammalian egg with the aid of a protease, acrosin. Difficulties associated with this view are discussed and an alternative, mechanical hypothesis introduced. The calculated force exerted by individual sperm is too small to permit the rupture of any but the weakest of secondary chemical bonds. Mechanical progress through the zona must rely on stress relaxation in a viscoelastic medium. The known properties of the zona appear to be consistent with such a mechanism of penetration.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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