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RESEARCH PRODUCT

An Analysis of the Process of Fertilization and Activation of the Egg

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Publisher Summary Fertilization consists fundamentally in the release of a chain of metabolic reactions by virtue of which morphogenesis is started. The result of fertilization is the activation of the egg. This can be achieved also by several agents other than the spermatozoon and it is then spoken of as “artificial activation.” This chapter discusses the structural, physiological, and chemical changes that occur in the egg at fertilization that are significant in the understanding of the mechanisms of the activation. The chapter presents the hypothesis that in the cortex of the unfertilized sea urchin egg an inhibitor–enzyme complex is present. By reacting with some substance introduced by the sperm, or under the influence of any artificial activator, the inhibitor is removed. The inhibitor is a mucopolysaccharide closely related to, or even identical with,the jelly-coat substance. The jelly coat of the echinoderm egg contains a substance,or is identical with it, which in solution is able to cause agglutination of homologous spermatozoa.