Premium
HORMONAL CONTROL OF OOCYTE MATURATION IN ARENICOLA MARINA L. (ANNELIDA, POLYCHAETA)
Author(s) -
MEIJER L.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
development, growth and differentiation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.864
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1440-169X
pISSN - 0012-1592
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-169x.1980.00033.x
Subject(s) - arenicola , oocyte , biology , calcium , meiosis , germinal vesicle , microbiology and biotechnology , ionophore , endocrinology , intracellular , in vitro maturation , medicine , biochemistry , ecology , embryo , gene
In Arenicola marina (Annelida, Polychaeta) the oocytes are arrested in the first prophase stage of meiosis until spawning. Oocyte maturation is under hormonal control: when incubated in vitro in a brain extract oocytes reach the first metaphase at which they remain arrested until fertilization. The importance of calcium in oocyte maturation has been investigated by using different drugs known to act on membrane calcium permeability and to modify intracellular free calcium concentration. Tetracaine, procaine, D‐600, verapamil (Isoptin), propranolol, oxprenolol and lanthanum chloride, calcium deprivation but not ionophore A23187, are all able to induce oocyte maturation. This suggests that the brain hormone may act on the oocyte by regulating, probably increasing, the intracellular free calcium concentration, as it has been proposed for oocytes of other animals. The importance of ‐SH/‐SS‐ in meiosis reinitiation is suggested by the fact that dithiothreitol and 2, 3‐dimercaptopropanol, two disulfide reducing agents, both induce oocyte maturation.