title: Radiation- and drug-induced DNA repair in mammalian oocytes and embryos.
abstract: A review of studies showing ultraviolet- or drug-induced unscheduled DNA synthesis in mammalian oocytes and embryos suggests that the female gamete has an excision repair capacity from the earliest stages of oocyte growth. The oocyte's demonstrable excision repair capacity decreases at the time of meiotic maturation for unknown reasons, but the fully mature oocyte maintains a repair capacity, in contrast to the mature sperm, and contributes this to the zygote. Early embryo cells maintain relatively constant levels of excision repair until late fetal stages, when they lose their capacity for excision repair. These apparent changes in excision repair capacity do not have a simple relationship to known differences in radiation sensitivity of germ cells and embryos.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002453:Cell Cycle; D004247:DNA / Q000096:biosynthesis; D004260:DNA Repair; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D005260:Female; D008322:Mammals / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D009865:Oocytes / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D009866:Oogenesis; D010063:Ovum / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays
chemical_list: D004247:DNA