Spermarche

With the Spermarche a male adolescent reaches sexual maturity. The ejaculate does not contain actual sperm until the sperm ark. If there is a lack of testosterone, the sperm ark can be disturbed or even absent.

What is the Spermarche?

During puberty, people develop fertility. While the first period heralds sexual maturity in women, in adolescents males the production of sperm within the testicles gradually begins. The beginning of sperm production is called Spermarche. This technical term is a loan word from the Greek, where "archḗ" means something like "beginning".

Young people who are more sexually active can reach orgasm before sperm march, but only give off a small amount of secretion without sperm before sexual maturity. The first real ejaculation is called ejakularche and can only take place after the sperm ark has entered.

The sperm count in the ejaculation secretion is still relatively low shortly after the entry of the sperm ark, but then increases bit by bit. The time of the sperm ark and the ejakularche cannot be estimated unequivocally by mere observation and can only be determined by aids.

If male adolescents did not experience an orgasm before the sperm march and are not sexually active at the onset of sexual maturity, the ejakularche takes place in the form of first-time pollution or polluarche. Pollution is a semen ejaculation without waking consciousness, i.e. an orgasm that occurs during sleep. The Spermarche is now expected from an average age of 13 years.

Function & task

The male genital organs are already fully developed immediately after birth, but differentiate further in the course of puberty under the influence of sex hormones. The testosterone level in the blood rises and the testicles achieve full functionality. This full functionality includes the ability to produce sperm.

Before the sperm ark, the orgasm of adolescents corresponds to a discharge of secretions. Only after the Spermarche is there an actual ejaculation in the sense of an ejaculation. The first "real" ejaculation following the sperm ark indicates the adolescent's sexual maturity. During puberty, the ejaculate of male adolescents changes and, according to the sperm march, consists of cellular components such as sperm and epithelial cells of the testicular tubules, which move in liquid components such as seminal plasma.

In the first ejaculate there are only a few sperm, which are usually of poor quality and in many cases are not yet capable of fertilization. In the time following the sperm ark, their number and the quality of sperm in the ejaculate increase bit by bit. The fertility occurs.

In this context, quality is primarily to be understood as vitality and mobility or agility. Only a fast and strong sperm can reach the female egg in time after the sexual act and can penetrate it.

In sexually mature testicles there are stem spermatogonia, which become two types of spermatogonia. The so-called A-spermatogonia come directly from the stem spermatogonia and carry out a mitotic division into two daughter cells, one of which divides further. Your daughter cells are so-called B spermatogonia and go into the maturation phase.

Cytoplasmic processes connect B spermatogonia to form groups that go through the stage of maturity together. As they mature, they migrate across the blood-testicular barrier in the direction of the testicular tubules and are called first-order spermatocytes there. As such, they undergo a first meiotic division in the sense of haploidization, in which two second-order spermatocytes are formed.

With the second meiosis in the sense of equation division (meiosis), two spermatids form. A primary spermatocyte thus becomes four spermatids, which become sperm during spermiogenesis. The first step in spermiogenesis corresponds to nuclear condensation, which is associated with cell plasma loss and tail formation. In addition, the acrosome is formed to penetrate the egg cell.

The increased testosterone release during puberty plays a role in the beginning of all these processes. In addition to the cellular components of the ejaculate, seminal plasma is formed in the sperm ark based on the secretions of accessory sex glands.

Illnesses & ailments

Testosterone is the most relevant factor for spermarche and the development of male sexual maturity. The hormone comes from the Leydig interstitial cells. Diseases of these cells, such as tumors or inflammatory damage, can result in a testosterone deficiency. In extreme cases, such a deficiency can lead to a lack of Spermarche and thus to sexual maturity.

Not only a reduced production of testosterone in the cells, but also a reduced susceptibility to the hormone can lead to disorders of the sperm arche and sexual maturation. Testosterone receptors are cells that sensitively register the presence of testosterone and bind to the hormone in order to initiate the processes described. If these receptors are below average sensitive, disturbances occur.

Since the cells are controlled by nerve centers in the hypothalamus, even if the control centers in the hypothalamus are damaged, sexual maturity may not occur. Due to abnormal conditions in the higher-level control centers, such as prematurely stimulated testosterone production, puberty with Spermarche can set in prematurely. A premature onset of puberty and sexual maturity does not necessarily have to be associated with disease value. Genetic factors can also promote this connection. The same applies to a delay in the processes. Physical causes of delayed puberty can also include removal of the thyroid gland.