title: Effects of thioglycolic acid on parthenogenetic activation of Xenopus oocytes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Existing in Permanent-wave solutions (PWS), thioglycolic acid (TGA) is widely used in hairdressing industry for its contribution to hair styling. However, the toxicity of TGA, especially its reproductive toxicity, gradually calls the attention of more and more researchers.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this work, xenopus oocytes were pretreated with different concentration of TGA, and then activated by calcium ionophore A23187. During culture, the oocytes activation rates were taken note at different time after adding calcium ionophore A23187. At the end of the culture period, the nuclear status was detected under confocal microscope. In addition, some other samples were collected for Western-Blotting analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  TGA significantly inhibited the oocytes activation rate and pronuclear formation. It may be resulted from the inhibition of the degradation of p-ERK1, Mos and CyclinB2.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  TGA inhibits in vitro parthenogenetic activation of xenopus oocytes with inhibited the degradation of proteins involved in mitogenic-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and maturation-promoting factor (MPF) pathways.
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproductive Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
authors.forename: Zhuoran
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiaomei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yongmei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xia
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000001:Calcimycin / Q000494:pharmacology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D007476:Ionophores / Q000494:pharmacology; D016200:Maturation-Promoting Factor / Q000378:metabolism; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D009865:Oocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D010312:Parthenogenesis / Q000187:drug effects*; D055550:Protein Stability; D013864:Thioglycolates / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014981:Xenopus
chemical_list: D007476:Ionophores; D013864:Thioglycolates; D000001:Calcimycin; D016200:Maturation-Promoting Factor; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases