The study of biofluids is an active multi-disciplinary field of research involving soft matter and statistical physics, fluid mechanics and microfluidics. We are interested in hydrodynamic modeling of spermatozoa cells either at the individual or collective levels. Nevertheless, since beating cilia are generic from unicellular cells up to complex multicellular organisms, most of the developed models are relevant to a broader context.
How active forces acting on flagella or cilia can be modeled? Combining models with observations of flagella/cilia beating kinematics, is it possible to identify and evaluate these forces? How collective interactions are driving the transition from random to organized collective motion? How the observed collective behavior depends on cell concentration and how steric interactions can influence orientational order in dense packing?
We analyzed the individual beating of spermatozoa both using original automatic segmentation tools (Yang et al, 2014) and bead models (Delmotte et al, 2015). The interest of
bead modelsBead models are articulated spheres or ellipsoids used to model flexible filaments subjected to various forces (including Brownian forcing) within a fluid.
They are widely used in polymer modeling.
resides in their ability to consider possibly complex mechanical anchoring conditions and/or assemblies of cilia. Furthermore, we have shown that measuring the beating kinematics of cilia do not permit the identification and evaluation of the underlying active forcing (even for time-periodic ones) except when two independent measurements performed within two distinct and independent external flows are performed (Plouraboué et al, 2017). Regarding collective effects, we numerically analyzed the effect of long-range hydrodynamic interactions of a large number of active swimmers (pushers or pullers) leading to orientational order (Delmotte et al, 2015, Delmotte et al., 2018).
We also experimentally analyzed the random motion of dense ram semen, showing similarities with 2D turbulence in confined parallel Hele-Shaw cells (Creppy et al, 2015). When confined within an annulus, such concentrated semen displays spontaneous rotation, the existence of which has been linked with steric interactions among cells as well as long-range orientational order (Creppy et al, 2016).

Publications

2019

Sulaiman, Mostafa; Climent, Éric; Delmotte, Blaise; Fede, Pascal; Plouraboué, Franck; Verhille, Gautier

Numerical modelling of long flexible fibers in homogeneous isotropic turbulence Journal Article

In: European Physical Journal E, 42 (132), 2019.

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2018

Delmotte, Blaise; Keaveny, Eric E; Climent, Éric; Plouraboué, Franck

Simulations of Brownian tracer transport in squirmer suspensions Journal Article

In: IMA Journal of Applied Mathematics, 83 (4), pp. 680–699, 2018.

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David, Ingrid; Kohnke, Philippa L.; Fehrenbach, Jérôme; Simoes, Ana Rita Lopes; Debreuve, Eric; Descombes, Xavier; Plouraboué, Franck; Degond, Pierre; Druart, Xavier

New objective measurements of semen wave motion are associated with fertility in sheep Journal Article

In: Reproduction Fertility and Development, 30 (6), pp. 889–896, 2018.

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2017

Plouraboué, Franck; Thiam, E. Ibrahima; Delmotte, Blaise; Climent, Éric

Identification of internal properties of fibres and micro-swimmers Journal Article

In: Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Science, 473 (2197), pp. 20160517, 2017.

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2016

Creppy, Adama Kpatagnon; Plouraboué, Franck; Praud, Olivier; Druart, Xavier; Cazin, Sébastien; Yu, Hui; Degond, Pierre

Symmetry-breaking phase transitions in highly concentrated semen Journal Article

In: Journal of The Royal Society Interface, 13 (123), pp. 1–12, 2016.

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2015

Delmotte, Blaise; Keaveny, Eric; Plouraboué, Franck; Climent, Éric

Large-scale simulation of steady and time-dependent active suspensions with the force-coupling method Journal Article

In: Journal of Computational Physics, 302 , pp. 524–547, 2015.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

David, Ingrid; Kohnke, Philippa L.; Lagriffoul, Gilles; Praud, Olivier; Plouraboué, Franck; Degond, Pierre; Druart, Xavier

Mass sperm motility is associated with fertility in sheep Journal Article

In: Animal Reproduction Science, 161 , pp. 75–81, 2015.

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Creppy, Adama Kpatagnon; Praud, Olivier; Druart, Xavier; Kohnke, Philippa L.; Plouraboué, Franck

Turbulence of swarming sperm Journal Article

In: Physical Review E, 92 (3), pp. n/a, 2015.

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Delmotte, Blaise; Climent, Éric; Plouraboué, Franck

A general formulation of Bead Models applied to flexible fibers and active filaments at low Reynolds number Journal Article

In: Journal of Computational Physics, 286 , pp. 14–37, 2015.

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2014

Yang, Hue-Fang; Descombes, Xavier; Prigent, Sylvain; Malandain, Grégoire; Druart, Xavier; Plouraboué, Franck

Head tracking and flagellum tracing for sperm motility analysis Unpublished

2014, (This work is supported by ANR MOTIMO Project).

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Climent, Éric; Delmotte, Blaise; Keaveny, Eric; Plouraboué, Franck

Numerical simulation of large populations of motile cells with the Force Coupling Method: effect of shape and concentration. Unpublished

2014.

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2013

Degond, Pierre; Praud, Olivier; Creppy, Adama Kpatagnon; Plouraboué, Franck

Dispositif de traitement d’un échantillon d’un fluide biologique actif Patent

2013.

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Creppy, Adama Kpatagnon; Plouraboué, Franck; Praud, Olivier; Viel, Alexis

Collective motility of sperm in confined cells Journal Article

In: Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, 16 (supp. 1), pp. 11–12, 2013.

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Delmotte, Blaise; Climent, Éric; Plouraboué, Franck

Hydrodynamic interactions among large populations of swimming micro-organisms Journal Article

In: Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, 16 (supp. 1), pp. 6–8, 2013.

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2012

Bardan, Gérald; Plouraboué, Franck; Zagzoule, Mokhtar; Balédent, Olivier

Pressure drop reconstruction in the aqueduct of sylvius from MRI acquisitions Journal Article

In: Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, 15 , pp. 79–80, 2012, (Published in a special issue (Supplement 1 : 37th Congress of the Societe de Biomecanique). Open access is not allowed for this article.).

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1996

Silva, Adriana S.; Bond, Robert; Plouraboué, Franck; Wirtz, Denis

Fluctuation dynamics of a single magnetic chain Journal Article

In: Physical Review E, 54 (5), pp. 5502–5510, 1996.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX