Where have all the sperm gone?

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Our new house mate #3 (need a new nickname, how about hyacinth) tutors a 16 year old biology student. This teenager stumped hyacinth with a question maybe you all can answer.

Why don't men get their periods? After a thorough explanation about ova and uterine linings, there was a follow up question. If the egg is exuded from the female body this way, how is the male counterpart exuded?

So, where do the sperm which aren't used go. I mean after the sperm are created and move through the male reproductive plumbing to take up residence in the final stop before exiting the male body. (This final stop is the seminal vesicle which is a pretty interesting habitat.) If these little guys aren't used before their shelf life expires, what happens to them?

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Hey, that's a very good question! It makes me want utter about a dozen wisecracks in response, but I'm interested enough in the real answer that I'll keep them to myself.

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Quote:

If these little guys aren't used before their shelf life expires, what happens to them?

I don't think this ever happens!

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I guess, Thomas is more gracious than I am.

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Hey! Be serious! ( Laughing

)

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Chai just posted some good info on this.

(trying to remember what thread it was on)

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Men don't get periods?

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It starts with vid's question.

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night emissions?

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There's a good explanation by a website about vasectomy, which Chai points to in this post.

But this only raises the converse question: Why doesn't the female body reabsorb eggs the same way the male body reabsorbs sperms? Why go through all the hassle of ovulation?

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Thanks Beth - I had the same reasoning as Chai did.

sglass, I don;t feel that wet dreams would be a good answer because it wouldn't cover all men - those with dysfunctional organs or vasectomies.

So, next question. This one is my own stemming from this re-absorption discussion. Hyacinth doesn't get that the body can reabsorb. I asked her to consider digestion and post-op recovery. I told her about the teacher I know who had a benign cyst rupture releasing several ounces of water into her abdominal cavity.

Then I through out the idea of bloating in women. Where is the water we are being bloated with stored? It surely isn't stored in the uterus, but somewhere nearby. She suggested the bladder (nooooo). In the flesh of the abdomen?

Does anyone know where it is stored?

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Thomas wrote:

There's a good explanation by a website about vasectomy, which Chai points to in this post.

But this only raises the converse question: Why doesn't the female body reabsorb eggs the same way the male body reabsorbs sperms? Why go through all the hassle of ovulation?

That must have to do with the prep for pregnancy the uterus goes through every month.

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You mean if the female body reabsorbed unfertilized eggs as just another source of protein, it would do the same with the fertilized ones? Sounds plausible. Could be.

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Thomas wrote:

You mean if the female body reabsorbed unfertilized eggs as just another source of protein, it would do the same with the fertilized ones? Sounds plausible. Could be.

What?

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females are born with all the eggs they will have in a lifetime, and these are sloughed off during ovalation. Sometimes a lot let go at once. It is one of the have a reasons older women have a hard time getting pregnant. Just no eggs or very few eggs left.

Guys? I just don't know , I googled some stuff and still didn't find a satisfactory answer.

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When a woman has her tubes tied, the eggs don't ever enter the uterus, they stay out in the abdomen. They are eventually reabsorbed.

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You are asking the question wrong... the real question is why do women get periods.

The answer is, a woman's body need to prepare for pregnancy (while a man's body doesn't).

If "reabsorbing" the egg were the only issue, female mammals would have evolved without the biologically expensive process of menstruation.

But there is a lot more going on then just an egg being released.

For fertilization to occur, the uterus needs to prepare for pregnancy. This includes a build up of endometrium, and this is the primary benefit of menstruation.

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littlek wrote:

Thomas wrote:
You mean if the female body reabsorbed unfertilized eggs as just another source of protein, it would do the same with the fertilized ones? Sounds plausible. Could be.

What?

(I loved it when you had that in your signature.)

What I mean is, the male body needn't distinguish between a fertilized sperm and an unfertilized one. It can just absorb any sperms in the prostate, as long as it proceeds at the same rate as sperm production.

The female body, on the other hand, needs to distinguish between fertilized eggs, which it must transport to the uterus and breed into a baby, and unfertilized eggs, which it has to get rid of after a while. For that, it can't proceed by the rule, "if it's an egg, reabsorb it".

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ebrown_p wrote:

You are asking the question wrong... the real question is why do women get periods.

The answer is, a woman's body need to prepare for pregnancy (while a man's body doesn't).

If "reabsorbing" the egg were the only issue, female mammals would have evolved without the biologically expensive process of menstruation.

But there is a lot more going on then just an egg being released.

For fertilization to occur, the uterus needs to prepare for pregnancy. This includes a build up of endometrium, and this is the primary benefit of menstruation.

I think we addressed that - though not as well as you did!

Thomas wrote:

littlek wrote:
Thomas wrote:
You mean if the female body reabsorbed unfertilized eggs as just another source of protein, it would do the same with the fertilized ones? Sounds plausible. Could be.

What?

(I loved it when you had that in your signature.)

What I mean is, the male body needn't distinguish between a fertilized sperm and an unfertilized one. It can just absorb any sperms in the prostate, as long as it proceeds at the same rate as sperm production.

The female body, on the other hand, needs to distinguish between fertilized eggs, which it must transport to the uterus and breed into a baby, and unfertilized eggs, which it has to get rid of after a while. For that, it can't proceed by the rule, "if it's an egg, reabsorb it".

Ah! Gotcha. (may go back to "What?" again some day)

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Thomas wrote:

littlek wrote:
Thomas wrote:
You mean if the female body reabsorbed unfertilized eggs as just another source of protein, it would do the same with the fertilized ones? Sounds plausible. Could be.

What?

(I loved it when you had that in your signature.)

What I mean is, the male body needn't distinguish between a fertilized sperm and an unfertilized one. It can just absorb any sperms in the prostate, as long as it proceeds at the same rate as sperm production.

The female body, on the other hand, needs to distinguish between fertilized eggs, which it must transport to the uterus and breed into a baby, and unfertilized eggs, which it has to get rid of after a while. For that, it can't proceed by the rule, "if it's an egg, reabsorb it".

As soon as the egg is fertilized, the body recognizes the chemical composition has changed.

I'm not sure the egg is reabsorbed so much as flushed out of the body along with the menses.

sglass...I don't think a woman would be likely to every use all her eggs, even if several were released at a time, but the pre-eggs do degenerate....

A baby girl is born with egg cells (oocytes) in her ovaries. Between 16 and 20 weeks of pregnancy, the ovaries of a female fetus contain 6 to 7 million oocytes. Most of the oocytes gradually waste away, leaving about 1 to 2 million present at birth. None develop after birth. At puberty, only about 300,000�more than enough for a lifetime of fertility�remain. Only a small percentage of oocytes mature into eggs. The many thousands of oocytes that do not mature degenerate. Degeneration progresses more rapidly in the 10 to 15 years before menopause. All are gone by menopause.

Only about 400 eggs are released during a woman�s reproductive life, usually one during each menstrual cycle. Until released, an egg remains dormant in its follicle�suspended in the middle of a cell division. Thus, the egg is one of the longest-lived cells in the body. Because a dormant egg cannot perform the usual cellular repair processes, the opportunity for damage increases as a woman ages. A chromosomal or genetic abnormality is thus more likely when a woman conceives a baby later in life.

interesting topic.

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Where have all the sperm gone?

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