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SHEDDING OF THE ZONA PELLUCIDA OF THE MOUSE BLASTOCYST IN NORMAL PREGNANCY

The mouse blastocyst loses its zona pellucida shortly before it attaches to the uterine epithelium and starts the implantation process (Orsini & McLaren, 1967; Restall & Bindon, 1971; Bergström 1972b). The nature of the zona loss is not well understood and evidence both for a lysis—a dissolution of the zona occurring essentially simultaneously around the blastocyst—and a hatching—an emergence of the blastocyst from the zona pellucida leaving an empty shell—has been furnished (see McLaren, 1970, for review).

Earlier investigations by light or electron microscopy on the loss of the zona pellucida of blastocysts in situ have been exclusively based on evidence provided by uteri fixed by immersion (cf. Potts & Wilson, 1967). The mutual relations between the blastocyst and the uterine epithelium may be severely distorted by the vast tissue shrinkage accompanying

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