Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

H Schatten

Publications and source records attributed to H Schatten.

67 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

Microtubule configurations during fertilization, mitosis, and early development in the mouse and the requirement for egg microtubule-mediated motility during mammalian fertilization.

Microtubules forming within the mouse egg during fertilization are required for the movements leading to the union of the sperm and egg nuclei (male and female pronuclei, respectively). In the unfertilized oocyte, microtubules are predominantly found in the arrested meiotic spindle. At the time for sperm incorporation, a dozen cytoplasmic asters assemble, often associated with the pronuclei. As the pronuclei move to the egg center, these asters enlarge into a dense array. At the end of first interphase, the dense array disassembles and is replaced by sheaths of microtubules surrounding the adjacent pronuclei. Syngamy (pronuclear fusion) is not observed; rather the adjacent paternal and maternal chromosome sets first meet at metaphase. The mitotic apparatus emerges from these perinuclear microtubules and is barrel-shaped and anastral, reminiscent of plant cell spindles; the sperm centriole does not nucleate mitotic microtubules. After cleavage, monasters extend from each blastomere nucleus. The second division mitotic spindles also have broad poles, though by third and later divisions the spindles are typical for higher animals, with narrow mitotic poles and fusiform shapes. Colcemid, griseofulvin, and nocodazole inhibit the microtubule formation and prevent the movements leading to pronuclear union; the meiotic spindle is disassembled, and the maternal chromosomes are scattered throughout the oocyte cortex. These results indicate that microtubules forming within fertilized mouse oocytes are required for the union of the sperm and egg nuclei and raise questions about the paternal inheritance of centrioles in mammals.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Nuclear lamins and peripheral nuclear antigens during fertilization and embryogenesis in mice and sea urchins.

Nuclear structural changes during fertilization and embryogenesis in mice and in sea urchins have been followed by using antibodies against the nuclear lamins A/C and B and against antigens at the periphery of nuclei and chromosomes. Lamins are found on all pronuclei and nuclei during mouse fertilization, but with a diminished intensity on the second polar body nucleus. On sperm in both systems, lamins are reduced and detected only at the acrosomal and centriolar fossae. In sea urchin eggs, lamins are found on both pronuclei. Unlike in other dividing cells, the mitotic chromosomes of sea urchin eggs and embryos retain an association with lamins. The peripheral antibodies delineate each chromosome and nucleus except the mature mouse sperm nucleus. A dramatic change from the expected lamin distribution occurs during early development. In mouse morulae or blastocysts, lamins A/C are no longer recognized, although lamin B remains. In sea urchins both lamins A/C and lamin B, as detected with polyclonal antibodies, are lost after the blastula stage, although a different lamin A/C epitope emerges as recognized by a monoclonal antibody. These results demonstrate that pronucleus formation in both systems involves a new association or exposure of lamins, that the polar body nucleus is largely restricted from the cytoplasmic pool of lamins, and that mitotic chromosomes in the rapidly proliferating sea urchin egg retain associated lamins. They also suggest that changes in the expression or exposure of different lamins are a common feature of embryogenesis.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Intracellular pH shift leads to microtubule assembly and microtubule-mediated motility during sea urchin fertilization: correlations between elevated intracellular pH and microtubule activity and depressed intracellular pH and microtubule disassembly.

The regulation of the microtubule-mediated motions within eggs during fertilization was investigated in relation to the shift in intracellular pH (pHi) that occurs during the ionic sequence of egg activation in the sea urchins Lytechinus variegatus and Arbacia punctulata. Microtubule assembly during formation of the sperm aster and mitotic apparatus was detected by anti-tubulin immunofluorescence microscopy, and the microtubule-mediated migrations of the sperm and egg nuclei were studied with time-lapse video differential interference contrast microscopy. Manipulations of intracellular pH were verified by fluorimetric analyses of cytoplasmic fluorescein incorporated as fluorescein diacetate. The ionic sequence of egg activation was manipulated i) to block the pHi shift at fertilization or reduce the pHi of fertilized eggs to unfertilized values, ii) to elevate artificially the pHi of unfertilized eggs to fertilized values, and iii) to elevate artificially or permit the normal pHi shift in fertilized eggs in which the pHi shift at fertilization was previously prevented. Fertilized eggs in which the pHi shift was suppressed did not assemble microtubules or undergo the normal microtubule-mediated motions. In fertilized eggs in which the pHi was reduced to unfertilized levels after the assembly of the sperm aster, no motions were detected. If the intracellular pH was later permitted to rise, normal motile events leading to division and development occurred, delayed by the time during which the pH elevation was blocked. Microtubule-mediated events occurred in eggs in which the intracellular pH was elevated, even in unfertilized eggs in which the pH was artificially increased. These results indicate that the formation and normal functioning of the egg microtubules is initiated, either directly or indirectly, by the shift in intracellular pH that occurs during fertilization.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

Actin-mediated surface motility during sea urchin fertilization.

The sea urchin egg at fertilization is an ideal model in which to study actin-mediated surface activity. Electron microscopy of unfertilized eggs demonstrates the presence of thousands of well-arrayed short microvilli, which appear supported by cytochalasin-sensitive actin oligomers as detected with rhodamine-labeled phalloidin staining of permeabilized eggs. At insemination, the previously short microvilli elongate and cluster around the successful sperm during incorporation. Phalloidin staining demonstrates a tremendous recruitement of polymerized actin into the site of sperm incorporation, resulting in the formation of the fertilization cone. Fertilization of cytochalasin-treated eggs results in the normal activation of the metabolic and bioelectric events, but sperm incorporation does not occur since the localized actin assembly required for fertilization cone formation is precluded. After sperm incorporation, the entire fertilized surface is restructured, as a result of a massive polymerization of actin to produce a burst in microvillar elongation. Addition of cytochalasin to eggs immediately following sperm incorporation demonstrates the recruitment of actin assembly for the proper progression through the first cell cycle. During normal cell division, the egg surface retains the long microvilli. The furrow which forms at cytokinesis does not appear as a unique new structure, but rather as a reorganization of the cortical microfilaments. Quantitative fluorescence microscopy argues against an increase in microfilaments during early cytokinesis. At the latest stages of cytokinesis, a thickening of the cortical actin is noted, which could possibly be interpreted as a contractile ring. A minor basal level of actin assembly with numerous nucleation sites in unfertilized eggs and a tremendous but localized assembly of microfilaments surrounding the sperm during incorporation, followed by a massive global microfilament assembly event to elongate the fertilized egg microvilli resulting later in the reorganization of these microfilaments to produce the forces necessary for cytokinesis, highlight the utility of the study of sea urchin eggs at fertilization for understanding actin-membrane interactions.

Actins↗
PubMed1983

Fertilization and early development of sea urchins.

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has been successfully employed for the study of several surface-mediated events during fertilization and early development in sea urchins. In addition to basic morphological descriptions of the sperm, the extrusion of the acrosomal process has been documented with SEM. During sperm incorporation, short microvilli are found to elongate around the successful sperm. In eggs denuded of vitelline layers, in which the elevation and hardening of this fertilization coat is prevented, numerous long microvilli have been shown to cluster around and elongate over the entering sperm during sperm incorporation. Following sperm incorporation and the elevation of the fertilization coat, scanning electron microscopy has been utilized to study the bursts of elongation of the previously short egg microvilli. These microvilli appear to undergo two bursts in length due primarily to the new assembly of microfilaments in the egg cortex. Cytokinesis occurs shortly after the second burst of microvillar elongation. The morula stage is characterized by loosely attached cells which become more closely apposed in subsequent cell divisions to result in the hollow blastula. The ciliated blastula hatches from the fertilization coat, whereupon gastrulation occurs, resulting in a free-swimming, feeding larval stage. This paper reviews the surface alterations and the contribution of scanning electron microscopy to the study of these surface alterations, from fertilization through early development.

Acrosome↗
PubMed1982

Taxol inhibits the nuclear movements during fertilization and induces asters in unfertilized sea urchin eggs.

Taxol blocks the migrations of the sperm and egg nuclei in fertilized eggs and induces asters in unfertilized eggs of the sea urchins Lytechinus variegatus and Arbacia punctulata. Video recordings of eggs inseminated in 10 microM taxol demonstrate that sperm incorporation and sperm tail motility are unaffected, that the sperm aster formed is unusually pronounced, and that the migration of the egg nucleus and pronuclear centration are inhibited. The huge monopolar aster persists for at least 6 h; cleavage attempts and nuclear cycles are observed. Colcemid (10 microM) disassembles both the large taxol-stabilized sperm aster in fertilized eggs and the numerous asters induced in unfertilized eggs. Antitubulin immunofluorescence microscopy demonstrates that in fertilized eggs all microtubules are within the prominent sperm aster. Within 15 min of treatment with 10 microM taxol, unfertilized eggs develop numerous (greater than 25) asters de novo. Transmission electron microscopy of unfertilized eggs reveals the presence of microtubule bundles that do not emanate from centrioles but rather from osmiophilic foci or, at times, the nuclear envelope. Taxol-treated eggs are not activated as judged by the lack of DNA synthesis, nuclear or chromosome cycles, and the cortical reaction. These results indicate that: (a) taxol prevents the normal cycles of microtubule assembly and disassembly observed during development; (b) microtubule disassembly is required for the nuclear movements during fertilization; (c) taxol induces microtubules in unfertilized eggs; and (d) nucleation centers other than centrioles and kinetochores exist within unfertilized eggs; these presumptive microtubule organizing centers appear idle in the presence of the sperm centrioles.

Alkaloids↗
PubMed1982

Effects of griseofulvin on fertilization and early development of sea urchins. Independence of DNA synthesis, chromosome condensation, and cytokinesis cycles from microtubule-mediated events.

Griseofulvin (4-6 X10-5 and 1 X 10-4 M) prevents the formation of any microtubule-based structures of sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, Lytechinus variegatus, Arbacia punctulata) eggs at fertilization. Sperm incorporation occurs, though the migrations of the pronuclei, dependent on the formation of the sperm aster, are arrested. Similarly in "streak" and the mitotic apparatus fail to assemble. Cycles of DNA synthesis, chromosome activity, nuclear breakdown and reconstitution, and even cleavage attempts occur on schedule in the absence of any mitotic movements. The action of griseofulvin, unlike that of colchicine, is readily reversible by the removal of the drug. Microtubules are formed, and the chromosome are separated. At 1 X 10-6 M, diminutive microtubule-based structures (e.g. sperm aster, mitotic apparatus) are observed though syngamy and division are arrested. These results demonstrate an independence of the cycle of microtubule-mediated events from other cyclical processes during the first cell cycles.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Spaceflight and clinorotation cause cytoskeleton and mitochondria changes and increases in apoptosis in cultured cells.

The cytoskeleton is a complex network of fibers that is sensitive to environmental factors including microgravity and altered gravitational forces. Cellular functions such as transport of cell organelles depend on cytoskeletal integrity; regulation of cytoskeletal activity plays a role in cell maintenance, cell division, and apoptosis. Here we report cytoskeletal and mitochondria alterations in cultured human lymphocyte (Jurkat) cells after exposure to spaceflight and in insect cells of Drosophila melanogaster (Schneider S-1) after exposure to conditions created by clinostat rotation. Jurkat cells were flown on the space shuttle in Biorack cassettes while Schneider S-1 cells were exposed to altered gravity forces as produced by clinostat rotation. The effects of both treatments were similar in the different cell types. Fifty percent of cells displayed effects on the microtubule network in both cell lines. Under these experimental conditions mitochondria clustering and morphological alterations of mitochondrial cristae was observed to various degrees after 4 and 48 hours of culture. Jurkat cells underwent cell divisions during exposure to spaceflight but a large number of apoptotic cells was also observed. Similar results were obtained in Schneider S-1 cells cultured under clinostat rotation. Both cell lines displayed mitochondria abnormalities and mitochondria clustering toward one side of the cells which is interpreted to be the result of microtubule disruption and failure of mitochondria transport along microtubules. The number of mitochondria was increased in cells exposed to altered gravity while cristae morphology was severely affected indicating altered mitochondria function. These results show that spaceflight as well as altered gravity produced by clinostat rotation affects microtubule and mitochondria organization and results in increases in apoptosis. Grant numbers: NAG 10-0224, NAG2-985.

Animals↗