Dev Growth Differ 1997 Dec 01;396:741-9. doi: 10.1046/j.1440-169x.1997.t01-5-00010.x.

Electric fusion of unfertilized starfish oocytes.

???displayArticle.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.

???displayArticle.pubmedLink??? 9493834
???displayArticle.link??? Dev Growth Differ


Genes referenced: stk36