Effect of sodium dodecyl sulphate on the hamster zona pellucida before and after a cortical reaction induced by the ionophore A23187.
Hamster zonae pellucidae were labelled with fluorescein isothiocyanate and placed under thin polyacrylamide sheets polymerized on the floor of an observation chamber. The integrity of these FITC-labelled zonae pellucidae was monitored continuously by fluorescence microscopy using a silicon-intensified target video-camera during exposure to a 0.1% sodium dodecyl sulphate solution diffusing through the polyacrylamide sheet. Complete dissolution of zonae pellucidae was observed at the threshold level of detection (estimated as 0.2% of the signal from a labelled zona pellucida). Similar behaviour was shown by zonae pellucidae isolated from hamster eggs 5, 15 and 30 min after a cortical reaction induced by the ionophore A23187. These findings suggest that the hamster zona pellucida contains no underlying covalent matrix before the cortical reaction, and that the cortical reaction does not produce covalent inter-molecular cross-linking of the zona pellucida.
Green
D P
DP
Department of Pharmacology, University of Otago Medical School, Dunedin, New Zealand.
D000818:Animals; D000001:Calcimycin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006224:Cricetinae; D005260:Female; D008647:Mesocricetus; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D010063:Ovum / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D012967:Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015044:Zona Pellucida / Q000187:drug effects*
D012967:Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate; D000001:Calcimycin