Spermatozoa face the Herculean task of finding an egg and are beset with
numerous challenges, not least reaching their target without getting lost. Furthermore,
the sperm flagellum not only allows rapid swimming but also an ability to steer and
thus navigate, invariably coupling sperm motility and guidance cue response. Thus in
the following we briefly review the mechanics of how sperm swim, together with
modelling strategies for developing computational simulations of swimming sperm. We
proceed to consider how these simulations can inform our understanding of sperm
guidance together with the limitations of modelling approaches, as well as perspectives
of future studies that can be tackled with present modelling frameworks and where
fundamental advances in our biological understanding are required for further progress.
Keywords: Boundary element method, Chemotaxis, Dynein regulation, Flagellar
waveform, Hydrodynamics, Low Reynolds number, Mechanics, Modeling,
Thigmotaxis, Numerical simulation, Regularized Stokeslet method, Resistive
force theory, Rheotaxis, Slender-body theory, Stokes flow, Sperm swimming.
