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THE PENETRABILITY OF RABBIT OVA TREATED WITH ENZYMES OR ANTI-PROGESTERONE ANTIBODY: A PROBE INTO THE NATURE OF A MAMMALIAN FERTILIZIN

Summary.: The acrosome reaction of rabbit spermatozoa, an essential prerequisite for penetration of the zona, occurs usually in the vicinity of the egg, suggesting that the rabbit egg may produce a factor akin to the `fertilizin' of some invertebrates. Specific inactivation of such a factor should render eggs impenetrable and possibly point to the nature of a `fertilizin' in mammals.

Rabbit eggs with granulosa cells removed were treated for different periods with trypsin, chymotrypsin, neuraminidase or anti-progesterone antiserum, and then transferred alone, or together with control eggs (one group labelled with fluorescein isothiocyanate), to the oviducts of inseminated recipients. Three hours later the eggs were recovered and the experimental and control groups were compared for penetration of the vitellus and for numbers of spermatozoa within the perivitelline space or in the zona pellucida. None of these treatments affected the penetrability of the zona pellucida significantly since the number of spermatozoa within treated eggs in any one experiment was always comparable to that of untreated eggs exposed to the same fertilization environment.

If there is a specific substance emanating from or present on the surface of the rabbit egg which induces the acrosome reaction, its activity seems unaffected by trypsin or chymotrypsin; the charged radicals of N-acetyl neuraminic acid or local concentrations of progesterone do not appear to be involved.

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				J.M. Bedford Mammalian Fertilization Misread? Sperm Penetration of the Eutherian Zona Pellucida Is Unlikely to be a Lytic Event Biol Reprod, December 1, 1998; 59(6): 1275 - 1287. [Full Text]