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Cortical Granule Wave 2D: The Block to Polyspermy

Interactive 2D reaction-diffusion model of fertilisation's calcium wave: click to fuse the first sperm and watch a real traveling calcium wavefront spread across the oocyte cortex, then click a second sperm anywhere to test whether it beats the wave — polyspermy succeeds only where the front hasn't arrived yet.

Biology2DModerate60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 3D version
2d-biology-ext-topic-60 ↗ Open standalone

A 2D cross-section of an oocyte, driven by a real reaction-diffusion PDE instead of a scripted radius. Click inside the egg to fuse the first sperm — that deposits a local calcium spike that a finite-difference solver diffuses outward frame by frame, exactly as calcium-induced calcium release does in a real cell. Cortical granules flip from unfired to fired the instant the live concentration field crosses threshold at their position, permanently hardening the zona behind the front. Click again anywhere, any time, to fire a second sperm at that exact spot: it succeeds (polyspermy) only if the simulated wavefront genuinely hasn't reached there yet, and the live "cortex covered" readout is measured directly off the grid, not assumed.

⚙ Under the hood

Click inside the egg to fuse sperm and start a calcium wave. Control sperm arrival rate, swim speed, and wave speed. See how subsequent sperm are blocked if the wave hasn't reached them.

reproductive biologyfertilisationcalcium signallingpolyspermy blockoocyteembryology

2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install

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