Sperm penetration of immature and maturing oocytes does not affect phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinase in pigs
H. M. Quan A B , X. Q. Meng A , Y. Hou A and Q. Y. Sun A CA State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 25 Beisihuan Xilu, Haidian, Beijing 100080, People’s Republic of China.
B Department of Anatomy, Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116027, People’s Republic of China.
C To whom correspondence should be addressed. email: sunqy@panda.ioz.ac.cu
Reproduction, Fertility and Development 15(7) 383-387 https://doi.org/10.1071/RD03035
Submitted: 10 June 2003 Accepted: 3 December 2003 Published: 3 December 2003
Abstract
Pig oocytes cultured in vitro for 0, 25, 33 and 44 h were inseminated by frozen–thawed ejaculated sperm. At specified times after insemination, sperm penetration, cell cycle progression and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) phosphorylation were evaluated. It was shown that: (1) oocytes at various maturational stages could be penetrated by sperm; (2) sperm penetration did not affect meiotic cell cycle progression; (3) sperm penetration of germinal vesicle (GV) oocytes and maturing oocytes did not alter MAPK phosphorylation; and (4) when premetaphase I (pre-MI) and metaphase I (MI) oocytes, in which MAPK was activated, were fertilised, no evident MAPK dephosphorylation was detected as in metaphase II oocytes. The data suggest that sperm penetration before oocyte maturation does not affect MAPK phosphorylation and that the machinery inactivating MAPK upon fertilisation is not developed in maturing (pre-MI to MI) oocytes.
Extra keywords: fertilisation
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by a Grant for Outstanding Young Scientists from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30225010), Special Funds for Major State Basic Research (‘973’) Project (G1999055902) from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KSCX2-SW-303, KSCX2-IOZ-07).
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