Calcium explosions as triggers of development.
A few years ago, Gilkey et al. showed that the development of medaka fish eggs begins with a free calcium explosion within the cytoplasm. This paper summarizes those findings; provides an interim report on the effects of injecting calcium and hydrogen ion buffers into medaka eggs; reviews recent evidence of similar calcium increases in other activating eggs, as well as sperm and oocytes (Table 1); and attempts to put these explosions in a broader context (Figures 1 and 4).
D000818:Animals; D000845:Annelida; D002021:Buffers; D002118:Calcium / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005399:Fishes; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008297:Male; D009132:Muscles / Q000166:cytology; D009865:Oocytes / Q000254:growth & development; D010063:Ovum / Q000254:growth & development*; D012617:Sea Urchins; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000254:growth & development; D013215:Starfish
D002021:Buffers; D002118:Calcium