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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.

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

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