title: Cat fertilization by mouse sperm injection.
abstract: Interspecies intracytoplasmic sperm injection has been carried out to understand species-specific differences in oocyte environments and sperm components during fertilization. While sperm aster organization during cat fertilization requires a paternally derived centriole, mouse and hamster fertilization occur within the maternal centrosomal components. To address the questions of where sperm aster assembly occurs and whether complete fertilization is achieved in cat oocytes by interspecies sperm, we studied the fertilization processes of cat oocytes following the injection of cat, mouse, or hamster sperm. Male and female pronuclear formations were not different in the cat oocytes at 6 h following cat, mouse or hamster sperm injection. Microtubule asters were seen in all oocytes following intracytoplasmic injection of cat, mouse or hamster sperm. Immunocytochemical staining with a histone H3-m2K9 antibody revealed that mouse sperm chromatin is incorporated normally with cat egg chromatin, and that the cat eggs fertilized with mouse sperm enter metaphase and become normal 2-cell stage embryos. These results suggest that sperm aster formation is maternally dependent, and that fertilization processes and cleavage occur in a non-species specific manner in cat oocytes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Sciences, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Chungbuk, South Korea.
authors.forename: Yong-Xun
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Xiang-Shun
authors.initials: XS
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Xian-Feng
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Sung-Hyun
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Qing-Ling
authors.initials: QL
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Wei-Wei
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Yong-Nan
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Shao-Chen
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Il-Keun
authors.initials: IK
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: Nam-Hyung
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D002843:Chromatin / Q000378:metabolism; D006224:Cricetinae; D005260:Female; D006657:Histones / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D009865:Oocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D020554:Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic / Q000662:veterinary*; D013084:Sperm-Ovum Interactions / Q000502:physiology; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin; D006657:Histones