MAPK regulates cell cycle progression in pig oocytes and fertilized eggs

Oocytes collected from prepubertal gilt ovaries were matured in vitro (IVM), and fertilized in vitro (IVF) or electrically activated. Phosphorylation of mitogenactivated protein kinase (MAPK) was detected with SDS-PAGE and Western blotting, and translocation of ERK₂ was observed with immunofluorescent cytochemistry. We found that the quantity of MAPK kept unchanged during oocyte maturation. There was no phosphorylated MAPK in porcine oocytes at the germinal vesicle (GV) stage; a little MAPK was phosphorylated at 20 h of IVM; a high level phosphorylation was detected at 30 h, while MAPK phosphorylation decreased at 36 h; and then MAPK phosphorylation increased again to the peak level from 40 to 60 h. ERK2 translocated from the peripheral cytoplasm to inner cytoplasm and nuclear area during oocyte maturation. There was nearly no phosphorylated MAPK at 18 and 20 h of electrically activated oocytes, but phosphorylation increased at 22 h. There was no phosphorylated MAPK at 12 h of IVF, while phosphorylation resumed at 16 h. These results suggest that MAPK may play an important regulatory role in MI-MII transition, pronucleus formation and the initiation of the first mitosis in pig eggs.     

小鼠附睾精子的显微受精

目的：建立显微受精的方法,并探讨小鼠附睾精子在显微注射进入卵母细胞后的受精能力。方法：用显微注射法把小鼠附睾头和附睾尾精子注入卵母细胞的胞质内或卵周隙进行显微受精。结果：把单个附睾尾精子注入卵细胞质中,培养后１４个存活的卵细胞中,有５个卵裂为２－细胞期胚胎;将单个附睾头精子注入卵母细胞中,有２５个存活,其中９个受精发育为２－细胞期胚胎;将附睾尾精子注入卵周隙进行带下受精,３０个存活的卵细胞中有４个     

Calcium-releasing activity induced by nuclei of mouse fertilized early embryos

At fertilization,repectitive transient rises of intracellular calcium concentration occur in all mammals studied so far .It has been shown that calcium rises could be induced when mouse fertilized 1-,2-cell nuclei were trans-planted into unfertilized eggs and that the reconstituted embryo could be activated .Howerver,whecther the capability of inducing calcium rises occurs in all stages of mammalian embryos remains unknown ,In this study ,by using the nuclear transplantation technique and measurement of intracellular calcium rises in living cells,we showed that only the nuclei from mouse fertilized 1-cell and 2-cell embryos ,neither the nuclei from 4-,8-cell and ethanol activated parthe-nogenetic embryos nor 2 or 3 nuclei of electrofused 4-cell stage syncytium ,have calcium -releasing activity when they were transferred into unfertilized mature oocytes,Our results indicate that the calcium-releasing activity in nuclei of 1-,2-cell embryos is produced during fertilization and exists at the special stage of fertilized early embryos.These sug-gested that the capacity of inducting calcium release activity in fertilized early embryos is important for normal embryonic development.     

金鱼精子头在卵细胞质中转化的超微结构研究

用透射电镜研究了金鱼卵子受精后起始阶段精子头在卵细胞质中的转化过程，结果表明：这种转化同样必须经精子核膜的崩解、原来高度致密的精子染色质的解聚与分散以及新的核膜（雄原核核膜）的形成。     

Exceptional sperm cooperation in the wood mouse

Spermatozoa from a single male will compete for fertilization of ova with spermatozoa from another male when present in the female reproductive tract at the same time. Close genetic relatedness predisposes individuals towards altruism, and as haploid germ cells of an ejaculate will have genotypic similarity of 50%, it is predicted that spermatozoa may display cooperation and altruism to gain an advantage when inter-male sperm competition is intense. We report here the probable altruistic behaviour of spermatozoa in an eutherian mammal. Spermatozoa of the common wood mouse, Apodemus sylvaticus, displayed a unique morphological transformation resulting in cooperation in distinctive aggregations or 'trains' of hundreds or thousands of cells, which significantly increased sperm progressive motility. Eventual dispersal of sperm trains was associated with most of the spermatozoa undergoing a premature acrosome reaction. Cells undergoing an acrosome reaction in aggregations remote from the egg are altruistic in that they help sperm transport to the egg but compromise their own fertilizing ability.     

First cleavage plane of the mouse egg is not predetermined but defined by the topology of the two apposing pronuclei

Studies of experimentally manipulated embryos have led to the long-held conclusion that the polarity of the mouse embryo remains undetermined until the blastocyst stage. However, recent studies reporting that the embryonic-abembryonic axis of the blastocyst arises perpendicular to the first cleavage plane, and hence to the animal-vegetal axis of the zygote, have led to the claim that the axis of the mouse embryo is already specified in the egg. Here we show that there is no specification of the axis in the egg. Time-lapse recordings show that the second polar body does not mark a stationary animal pole, but instead, in half of the embryos, moves towards a first cleavage plane. The first cleavage plane coincides with the plane defined by the two apposing pronuclei once they have moved to the centre of the egg. Pronuclear transfer experiments confirm that the first cleavage plane is not determined in early interphase but rather is specified by the newly formed topology of the two pronuclei. The microtubule networks that allow mixing of parental chromosomes before dividing into two may be involved in these processes.     

The immunoglobulin superfamily protein Izumo is required for sperm to fuse with eggs

Representing the 60 trillion cells that build a human body, a sperm and an egg meet, recognize each other, and fuse to form a new generation of life. The factors involved in this important membrane fusion event, fertilization, have been sought for a long time. Recently, CD9 on the egg membrane was found to be essential for fusion, but sperm-related fusion factors remain unknown. Here, by using a fusion-inhibiting monoclonal antibody and gene cloning, we identify a mouse sperm fusion-related antigen and show that the antigen is a novel immunoglobulin superfamily protein. We have termed the gene Izumo and produced a gene-disrupted mouse line. Izumo-/- mice were healthy but males were sterile. They produced normal-looking sperm that bound to and penetrated the zona pellucida but were incapable of fusing with eggs. Human sperm also contain Izumo and addition of the antibody against human Izumo left the sperm unable to fuse with zona-free hamster eggs.