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Oocyte Maturation in Amphibians

  • Chapter
Oogenesis

Part of the book series: Developmental Biology ((DEBO,volume 1))

Abstract

Although the amphibian oocyte possesses a vast store of structural and regulatory components, the oocyte itself is extremely repressed in terms of its rate of protein synthesis. It can remain in this repressed state for a period of months or years, as it grows in the ovary by virtue of deposition of yolk platelets. The quiescent state of oocyte metabolism is broken when the process of oocyte maturation is initiated by hormones. Studies over many years have demonstrated that in vivo the epithelial layer of follicle cells surrounding each oocyte is stimulated by pituitary-derived luteinizing hormone (LH) to synthesize and secrete progesterone, which acts directly on the oocyte to induce maturation of the oocyte into an unfertilized egg (Masui, 1967; Mailer and Krebs, 1980). The interaction of progesterone with the isolated oocyte appears to be a sufficient trigger for a normal oocyte maturation response, as judged by cytological analysis and by the ability of isolated oocytes responding to exogenously applied progesterone to undergo normal embryonic development (Smith et al., 1968; Drury and Schorderet-Slatkine, 1975).

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  1. Department of Pharmacology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, Colorado, 80262, USA

    James L. Maller

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  1. James L. Maller
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  1. University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Leon W. Browder

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© 1985 Plenum Press, New York

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Maller, J.L. (1985). Oocyte Maturation in Amphibians. In: Browder, L.W. (eds) Oogenesis. Developmental Biology, vol 1. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-6814-8_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-6814-8_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4615-6816-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-6814-8

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