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Biology of Reproduction, Vol 23, 481-486, Copyright © 1980 by Society for the Study of Reproduction

Ultrastructural Observations of Boar Spermatozoa Penetrating Zona-Free Hamster Eggs

H. IMAI 1, K. NIWA 1, , and A. IRITANI 1

1 Department of Animal Science, College of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606, Japan


Boar spermatozoa preincubated in a modified KRB medium never penetrated zona-free hamster eggs, and no structural changes were observed in their acrosomes. The acrosome reaction was observed at the acrosomal cap region of spermatozoa preincubated for 5 h in the isolated uterus from a maturing gilt. Only acrosome-reacted spermatozoa fused with zona-free hamster eggs. Sperm-egg membrane fusion was essentially the same as that of homologous fertilization in other species; only the microvilli of the egg surrounding the postacrosomal region fused with sperm plasma membrane. The ultrastructural features of the sperm pronucleus in the hamster egg were dissimilar to those in the pig egg, indicating that some vitelline factors might be involved in the formation of the sperm pronucleus.

Note:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors wish to express their sincere thanks to Dr. Y. D. Noda for his active interest and helpful suggestions. Thanks are also due to Professor H. Harada for allowing us to use the electron microscope facilities and to Mr. T. Fujii for his technical advice. Some of this work was supported by a grant from the Ford Foundation (No. 740-0404).

Submitted on March 17, 1980
Accepted on June 3, 1980






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Copyright © 1980 by the Society for the Study of Reproduction.