Biol Reprod Keystone Symposia Conference on Frontiers in Reproductive Biology & Regulation of Fertility.
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Biology of Reproduction, Vol 14, 175-185, Copyright © 1976 by Society for the Study of Reproduction

Ultrastructure of the Hamster Zona Pellucida Treated with Zona Precipitating Antibody

ALAN B. DUDKIEWICZ 1, C. ALEX SHIVERS 1, , and WILLIAM L. WILLIAMS 1

1 Department of Zoology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37916 and Reproduction Research Laboratories, Department of Biochemistry, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602


The ultrastructure of the zonae pellucidae of hamster ova after treatment with zona precipitating antibody (ZPA) was investigated. The hamster zona as viewed by transmission and scanning electron microscopy reveals an intricate network of interconnecting fibers. This network of interstitial zona fibers results in the formation of a porous outer zona region adjacent to a more compact but porous inner zina. The canaliculi bounded by these fibers provide viaducts by which processes of follicular cells may pass through the zona and interact with the vitelline surface.

ZPA treatment of zonae results in the interaction of the specific immunoglobulins with the fibrous network of the outer region but does not occlude the interstitial pores. The pattern of ZPA-zona interaction greatly accentuates the substructure of the outer zona and resembles a layer or aggregations of fine to medium-course granules and/or electron dense particles which can be observed as a dense precipitate with the light microscope. Treatment of zonae with control media, preimmunization serum or ZPA absorbed with ovary, does not produce a zona precipitate. These zonae when viewed with the electron microscope lack the distinct, dense precipitate observed in ZPA-treated zonae. In view of the pattern of ZPA interaction with the fibrous components of the zona and the lack of pore occlusion, ZPA may in fact block or mask sperm receptors and/or enzyme substrate(s) during sperm penetration or mechanically inhibit zona dissolution during implantation.

Note:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The pregnant mare's serum gonadotropin (NIAMDD-PMSG-1) used in these studies was generously supplied by Dr. A. F. Parlow of the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases Rat Pituitary Hormone Program. The investigation was supported by NIH grants HD-06226 to Dr. J. C. Daniel, Jr., and HD-04020 to Dr. C. A. Shivers, and by NIH Contract 69-2103 and by Ford Foundation Grant 680-0805A to Dr. W. L. Williams.

Submitted on August 19, 1975
Accepted on October 8, 1975






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Copyright © 1976 by the Society for the Study of Reproduction.