Effect of valinomycin on mitotic activity and ciliary movement during embryonic development]

The K+ ionophore valinomycin very quickly arrests cleavage in sea urchin and mouse eggs at concentrations ranging between 10 and 3 micron. Development of Axolotl and Xenopus eggs is not arrested before the blastula or gastrula stage. The motility of sea urchin sperm, blastulae and gastrulae is suppressed, within a few minutes, by 1-9 micron valinomycin.