title: Electric fusion of unfertilized starfish oocytes.
abstract: An electric power device to fuse starfish oocytes was constructed. The outputs were supplied to a pair of parallel platinum wires in a solution of mannitol to which small amounts of salts were added. Oocytes of the starfish Asterina pectinifera, deprived of the vitelline envelope, were fused by several repetitions of a combination of 2.5 MHz AC field for a few seconds and a 50 micros DC pulse. Observation of fusing pairs of immature oocytes revealed that: (i) the oocyte placed near to the cathode forms a bulge at the surface facing the anode when subjected to DC pulses and, with subsequent DC pulses, a similar bulge is formed on another oocyte; and (ii) the pair of bulges then fuse together leading to fusion of the main body of the two oocytes. The conjugate of maturing oocytes soon became a single sphere, usually within 10 min, but this process toward spherical form paused when the oocyte was extruding its polar bodies. The conjugate of immature oocytes took 1 h to become a single sphere. The fusion did not disturb the progress of meiotic events, but electric pulses at an intensity suitable for the fusion often activated maturing oocytes and mature eggs.
authors.affiliation: Tateyama Marine Laboratory of Ochanomizu University, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yoneda
mesh_terms: D000225:Adenine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D002459:Cell Fusion / Q000502:physiology*; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D004594:Electrophysiology / Q000379:methods; D008540:Meiosis / Q000502:physiology; D009865:Oocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D013215:Starfish
chemical_list: C008407:1-methyladenine; D000225:Adenine