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The soluble sperm oscillogen hypothesis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Karl Swann
Karl Swann*
Affiliation:
MRC Experimental Embryology and Teratology Unit, St George's Hospital Medical school, London, UK.
*
Department of Anatomy and developnental Biology, University College, Gower Street,London WCIE 6BT, UK.
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Extract

It is now accepted that sperm trigger deuterostome egg activation by causing an increase in egg cytoplasmic Ca2+ levels (Jaffe, 1983; Whitaker & Swann, 1993). This increase generally takes the form of a single wave of Ca2+ release that crosses the egg from the point of sperm-egg interaction (Jaffe, 1983)eggs Ca2+ waves occur repetitively and soon turn into synchronous pulses, or homogeneous oscillations, that last for hours after sperm-egg fusion (Miyazaki et al., 1993b; Homa et al., 1993). Despite their extensive characterisation it is still not established how sperm trigger these Ca2+ changes in eggs. The signal transduction mechanism is missing. There is a proliferation of overlapping and complex schemes for how the sperm may initiate Ca2+ release (Miyazaki et al., 1993b;Whitaker & Swann, 1993). Here, my aim is to present one simple scheme in its generic form. The brevity of this essay restricts citations and necessitates using reviews to reference original work.

Information

Type
Article
Information
Zygote , Volume 1 , Issue 4 , November 1993 , pp. 273 - 276
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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