Premium
Cyanide‐resistant reduction of nitroblue tetrazolium and hydrogen peroxide production by the rabbit blastocyst
Author(s) -
Manes Cole
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
molecular reproduction and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.745
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1098-2795
pISSN - 1040-452X
DOI - 10.1002/mrd.1080310205
Subject(s) - biology , blastocyst , hydrogen peroxide , cyanide , hydrogen cyanide , nitroblue tetrazolium , rabbit (cipher) , embryo , biochemistry , embryogenesis , microbiology and biotechnology , inorganic chemistry , chemistry , statistics , mathematics
The ability of the rabbit blastocyst to reduce nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) to formazan in the presence of cyanide was assayed as an indicator of extramitochondrial oxidase activity capable of generating the superoxide radical. A cytochemical method initially developed for the detection and localization of hydrogen peroxide production at the ultrastructural level in phagocytosing leukocytes (Briggs et al.: J Cell Biol 67:566, 1975) was also applied to the blastocyst. The results demonstrate that the rabbit blastocyst acquires the ability to reduce NBT by a cyanide‐insensitive process and to generate hydrogen peroxide between the fourth and fifth days postcoitum. The enzymatic activity responsible is apparently an NAD(P)Hdependent oxidase in the outer, microvillous plasma membrane of the trophoblast.