An atlas of reproductive development in rockfishes, genus Sebastes

The genus Sebastes consists of over 100 fish species, all of which are viviparous and long-lived. Previous studies have presented schemes on the reproductive biology of a single targeted species of the genus Sebastes, but all appear to possess a similar reproductive biology as evidenced by this and other studies. This atlas stages major events during spermatogenesis, oogenesis, and embryogenesis, including atresia, in six species of Sebastes (S. alutus, S. elongatus, S. helvomaculatus, S. polyspinis, S. proriger, and S. zacentrus). Our study suggests that the male reproductive cycle of Sebastes is characterized by 11 phases of testicular development, with 10 stages of sperm development and 1 stage of spermatozoa atresia. Ovarian development was divided into 12 phases, with 10 stages of oocyte development, 1 stage of embryonic development, and 1 stage of oocyte atresia. Embryonic development up to parturition was divided into 33 stages following the research of Yamada and Kusakari (1991). Reproductive development of all six species examined followed the developmental classifications listed above which may apply to all species of Sebastes regardless of the number of broods produced annually. Multiple brooders vary in that not all ova are fertilized and progress to embryos; a proportion of ova are arrested at the pre-vitellogenic stage. Reproductive stage examples shown in this atlas use S. elongates for spermatic development, S. proriger for oocyte development, and S. alutus for embryological development, because opportunistic sampling only permitted complete analysis of each respective developmental phase for those species. The results of this study and the proposed reproductive phases complement the recommended scheme submitted by Brown-Peterson et al. (2011), who call for a standardization of terminology for describing reproductive development of fishes.

In utero domoic acid toxicity: a fetal basis to adult disease in the California sea lion (Zalophus californianus)

California sea lions have been a repeated subject of investigation for early life toxicity, which has been documented to occur with increasing frequency from late February through mid-May in association with organochlorine (PCB and DDT) poisoning and infectious disease in the 1970's and domoic acid poisoning in the last decade. The mass early life mortality events result from the concentrated breeding grounds and synchronization of reproduction over a 28 day post partum estrus cycle and 11 month in utero phase. This physiological synchronization is triggered by a decreasing photoperiod of 11.48 h/day that occurs approximately 90 days after conception at the major California breeding grounds. The photoperiod trigger activates implantation of embryos to proceed with development for the next 242 days until birth. Embryonic diapause is a selectable trait thought to optimize timing for food utilization and male migratory patterns; yet from the toxicological perspective presented here also serves to synchronize developmental toxicity of pulsed environmental events such as domoic acid poisoning. Research studies in laboratory animals have defined age-dependent neurotoxic effects during development and windows of susceptibility to domoic acid exposure. This review will evaluate experimental domoic acid neurotoxicity in developing rodents and, aided by comparative allometric projections, will analyze potential prenatal toxicity and exposure susceptibility in the California sea lion. This analysis should provide a useful tool to forecast fetal toxicity and understand the impact of fetal toxicity on adult disease of the California sea lion.

Maturity, ovarian cycle, fecundity, and age-specific parturition of black rockfish (Sebastes melanops)

From 1995 to 1998, we collected female black rockfish (Sebastes melanops) off Oregon in order to describe their basic reproductive life history and determine age-specific fecundity and temporal patterns in parturition. Female black rockfish had a 50% probability of being mature at 394 mm fork length and 7.5 years-of-age. The proportion of mature fish age 10 or older significantly decreased each year of this study, from 0.511 in 1996 to 0.145 in 1998. Parturition occurred between mid-January and mid-March, and peaked in February. We observed a trend of older females extruding larvae earlier in the spawning season and of younger fish primarily responsible for larval production during the later part of the season. There were differences in absolute fecundity at age between female black rockfish with prefertilization oocytes and female black rockfish with fertilized eggs; fertilized-egg fecundity estimates were considered superior. The likelihood of yolked oocytes reaching the developing embryo stage increased with maternal age. Absolute fecundity estimates (based on fertilized eggs) ranged from 299,302 embryos for a 6-year-old female to 948,152 embryos for a 16-year-old female. Relative fecundity (based on fertilized eggs) increased with age from 374 eggs/g for fish age 6 to 549 eggs/g for fish age 16.

银杏种胚脱水敏感性及其生理研究

银杏（Ginkgo. Biloba.L），又俗称白果，是起源于中国的特有珍贵树种。本实验选用银杏种子和种胚为材料，研究其脱水过程中存活率、抗氧化酶活性、ABA等生理变化，并通过外源处理方式提高种胚脱水耐性，探讨银杏种胚脱水敏感性与抗氧化系统、ABA的关系，为银杏种质资源的长期保存提供一定依据。研究结果显示： 银杏种子和离体胚对脱水均较敏感，快速脱水后完整种子临界含水量40.3%，半致死含水量约为32%左右，离体种胚分别为28.2%和22%左右，初步认为银杏属顽拗型种子。经比较银杏整粒种子、离体胚快速脱水时含水量变化情况，发现离体种胚比整粒种子更耐脱水，完整种子脱水对内部种胚是一种慢速脱水。 种胚脱水过程中，含水量高于24.5% 时，丙二醛（MDA）含量基本不变，抗氧化酶活性增加，抗氧化酶防御机制起作用；当含水量低于24.5%时，MDA含量显著增加，抗氧化酶活性大幅度降低，防御机制无法消除过氧化产物的大量积累，造成细胞损伤，种胚存活率下降。因此银杏种胚脱水过程中，特别是脱水后期，抗氧化酶活性的迅速下降和脂质过氧化作用的加强与积累是造成存活率快速丧失、对脱水敏感的主要原因之一。 银杏属典型后熟种子，脱落后种胚需经历形态和生理发育过程，这一阶段脱水耐性在后熟7个月达到最大，ABA含量也不断积累，并在最耐脱水时期达到峰值，继续后熟脱水耐性减弱，ABA含量也迅速降低，可能与银杏种胚完成后熟转而进入萌发阶段有关。在种胚快速脱水过程中，ABA含量不断降低，与存活率显著正相关。银杏种胚在后熟过程中ABA的含量较低以及脱水过程中的不断降低，可能是造成种胚不耐脱水的另一部分原因。 通过外源ABA处理种胚后可明显提高其脱水耐性。ABA处理的种胚SOD活性升高，脱水后抗氧化酶活性（GR除外）被进一步激发，从而减少脂质过氧化伤害，降低细胞膜结构的破坏。这也更进一步证实了ABA和抗氧化系统在银杏种胚脱水过程中的重要作用。

Xenopus RCOR2 (REST corepressor 2) interacts with ZMYND8, which is involved in neural differentiation

Regulation of neuronal gene expression is critical to nervous system development. REST (RE1-silencing transcription factor) regulates neuronal gene expression through interacting with a group of corepressor proteins including REST corepressors (RCOR). Here we show that Xenopus RCOR2 is predominantly expressed in the developing nervous system. Through a yeast two-hybrid screen, we isolated Xenopus ZMYND8 (Zinc finger and MYND domain containing 8) as an XRCOR2 interacting factor. XRCOR2 and XZMYND8 bind each other in co-immunoprecipitation assays and both of them can function as transcriptional repressors. XZMYND8 is co-expressed with XRCOR2 in the nervous system and overexpression of XZMYND8 inhibits neural differentiation in Xenopus embryos. These data reveal a RCOR2/ZMYND8 complex which might be involved in the regulation of neural differentiation. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A new observation on large scale disintegration of eggs of Indian major carps during development

While carp themselves may destroy carp eggs by sucking from outside the happa, destruction in the absence of carp also occurs. During observations of the effect of electrical field on developing carp eggs it was seen that the egg membrane ruptured prematurely under certain potential differences. In natural waters and mud potential differences occur in the presence of high concentrations of certain salts compared with the internal concentration. Temperature and pH fluctuations following strong sun or heavy rain accelerates the diffusion of ions along side water through the egg membrane. The egg cells expand rapidly and the embryos were rapidly dropped.

The giant panda (Ailurapoda melanoleuca) somatic nucleus can dedifferentiate in rabbit ooplasm and support early development of the reconstructed egg

The giant panda skeletal muscle cells, uterus epithelial cells and mammary gland cells from an adult individual were cultured and used as nucleus donor for the construction of interspecies embryos by transferring them into enucleated rabbit eggs. All the three kinds of somatic cells were able to reprogram in rabbit ooplasm and support early embryo development, of which mammary gland cells were proven to be the Lest, followed by uterus epithelial cells and skeletal muscle cells. The experiments showed that direct injection of mammary gland cell into enucleated rabbit ooplasm, combined with in vivo development in ligated rabbit oviduct, achieved higher blastocyst development than in vitro culture after the somatic cell was injected into the perivitelline space and fused with the enucleated egg by electrical stimulation. The chromosome analysis demonstrated that the genetic materials in reconstructed blastocyst cells were the same as that in panda somatic cells. In addition, giant panda mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was shown to exist in the interspecies reconstructed blastocyst. The data suggest that (i) the ability of ooplasm to dedifferentiate somatic cells is not species-specific; (ii) there is compatibility between interspecies somatic nucleus and ooplasm during early development of the reconstructed egg.

Embryonic and larval development of Mystus gulio (Ham.)

Mystus gulio eggs are strongly adhesive and contain relatively small yolk (0.75-1.0 mm). The egg envelop is thick and transparent. First cleavage (two cells), four cells, eight cells, sixteen cells and multi cells stages were found 20, 25, 35-40, 60 and 70 minutes after fertilization, respectively. The morula stage was visualized within 1.5 h after fertilization. The heart beat visible and the circulatory system commenced after 16 h of fertilization. Embryos hatched 18-20h after activation of egg. The newly hatched larva measured 2.82±0.03 mm in length and 0.32±0.06 mg in weight. The yolk sac was fully absorbed by the third day though larvae commenced exogenous feeding even before completion of yolk absorption. A 5-day old post larva began wandering in search of food. Ten-day old post larvae endowed with eight branched rays in dorsal fin and seven in caudal fin. Fifteen-day old post larvae had the pectm:al spine become stout though the embryonic fin folds had to be disappeared. The length of fingerlings ranged from 25-30 mm after 30 days, and their external features were just like those of an adult except that they were not sexually matured.

吗啡对鸡胚胎发育的影响

目的:研究吗啡对胎动、心率、孵化率、孵化时间、雏鸡体重等的影响.方法:以气室给药的方式给鸡胚注射吗啡,记录胎动、心率、孵化率、孵化时间、雏鸡体重.结果:吗啡可以缩短雏鸡的孵化时间,降低雏鸡的孵化率,并导致雏鸡出现运动障碍;20 mg/kg吗啡剂量和12-16胚龄的给药时间,鸡胚孵化率最高,残疾率最低;吗啡导致胚胎心率加快,胎动减少(P＜0.05).结论:吗啡对胚胎发育有损伤作用,损伤程度与吗啡剂量和给药时间有关.

全放牧婆罗门牛和BMY牛胚胎回收适期的探讨

选用婆罗门牛和BMY牛供体超数排卵,以第1次人工授精(AI)当日为0 d,分别在AI第6～6.5天、7～7.5天和8～8.5天回收胚胎,统计≤16细胞胚、桑椹胚、囊胚和孵化胚的数量,计算各发育阶段胚胎所占的百分率,分析婆罗门牛和BMY牛的胚胎回收适期.结果表明:婆罗门牛AI第6～6.5天的桑椹胚率比BMY牛高43.54个百分点(P＜0.01),AI第8～8.5天的孵化胚率比BMY牛高35.94个百分点(P＜0.05),胚胎发育速度比BMY牛较快.罗门牛和BMY牛在AI第6～6.5天回收胚胎的囊胚率低,而第8～8.5天的孵化胚率高,胚胎回收以AI第7～7.5天为宜.

哺乳动物胚胎冷冻技术的研究进展

胚胎冷冻保存已广泛用于胚胎移植、动物克隆以及动物资源保护。此技术的应用需保证胚胎在冷冻—解冻后具有较高的成活率。自从1972年小鼠胚胎冷冻保存获得成功以来,许多学者在简化冷冻程序、缩短冷冻时间等方面进行了深入的研究。文章就胚胎冷冻的原理、保护剂、冷冻方法以及解冻方法等方面进行了综述。

小鼠四倍体半克隆胚胎发育研究

半克隆U-9/G;7Q":9V2胚胎是通过注射体细胞核到未去核的卵母细胞中产生的# 在半克隆胚胎中!体细胞被用来作为精子的替代物# 然而!由于异常的染色体分离!构建的半克隆胚胎在激活后形成了非整倍体而导致胚胎发育受到严重影响!不能发育到期# 本研究通过抑制小 鼠半克隆胚胎在激活过程中染色体数目减半!避免非整倍体胚胎形成!研究四倍体半克隆$W9XKMY#"GV -9/G;Z#":9V!W-7%胚胎的发育和体细 胞核的掺入对胚胎发育的影响& 结果显示!W-7 胚胎的体外发育率显著高于二倍体半克隆胚胎!与正常受精卵及孤雌激活对照无显著性差异! 但W-7 胚胎的细胞数在桑椹胚和囊胚期比正常二倍体受精胚胎和孤雌激活胚胎少& 通过AZX;> 染色发现!W-7 胚胎囊胚期内细胞团$5::9K 79## [M\\]57[%细胞很少或者没有& 移植1& 个四倍体半克隆胚胎到& 只假孕母鼠体内!得到%* 个胎盘!但没有得到胎儿& 组蛋白乙酰化和 4’@ 甲基化检测显示!部分W-7 胚胎在囊胚期没有形成正常受精胚胎在57[ 和滋养外胚层$WK"Y89ZX"V9K/!WE%之间的差异分布& W-7 胚 胎的基因表达不依赖于细胞分裂次数而依赖于发育时间& 虽然W-7 胚胎避免了二倍体半克隆胚胎形成非整倍体现象!但由于W-7 胚胎没有 57[ 细胞或57[ 细胞很少!所以只能形成胎盘而不能形成胎儿& 本实验第一次较为全面地研究了W-7 胚胎的发育!同时也为研究体细胞核再 程序化’基因打靶技术提供了一种新的途径#

Development of zona-free hamster ova to blastocysts in vitro

The zona pellucida (ZP) enclosing the mammalian ovum is important for its protection and for initial stages of fertilization, but the role of the ZP during embryo development is less clear. This study was designed to investigate if the hamster ZP is needed for embryo development from 1-cell to blastocyst in vitro, and to compare methods for removing the ZP. A total of 395 hamster pronucleate ova were collected 10 h post activation from superovulated, mated female hamsters. The ZP was removed from some ova using either 0.05% pronase, 0.05% trypsin or acid Tyrode's solution. To prevent ZP-free ova from sticking together, they were cultured singly in 30-50 muL drops of HECM-6 culture medium together with ZP-intact ova as controls. There was no significant difference among treatment groups in embryo development to blastocyst: 36/87 (42%) in the ZP intact group; 35/75 (47%) in the pronase-treated ZP-free group; 37/74 (50%) in the trypsin-treated ZP-free group; and 37/71 (52%) in the acid-treated ZP-free group. These results indicate that 1) the ZP is unnecessary for hamster embryo development in vitro from the pronucleate ovum stage to blastocyst; 2) none of the three ZP-removal methods was detrimental to embryo development; 3) embryos do not need to be cultured in groups during in vitro development from 1-cell to blastocyst. (C) 2000 by Elsevier Science Inc.

Effect of antibiotics on development in vitro of hamster pronucleate ova

Antibiotics are commonly added to embryo culture media, but effects on embryo development have not been examined thoroughly. Hamster ova were used to investigate whether penicillin, streptomycin or gentamicin affect embryo development in vitro. Ova were collected 10 h post activation by spermatozoa in vivo and cultured in five treatments: 1) Control: chemically-defined medium HECM-9 with no antibiotics; 2) HECM-9 with 100 IU/mL, penicillin; 3) HECM-9 with 50 mug/mL streptomycin; 4) HECM-9 with 10 mug/mL,gentamicin and 5) HECM-9 with both 100 IU/mL penicillin and 50 mug/mL streptomycin. Individually, penicillin, streptomycin and gentamicin did not affect embryo development to the 8-cell stage at 58 h post oocyte activation, or morula/blastocyst stages, or blastocysts alone at 82 h post activation. However, when penicillin and streptomycin were both present in the culture medium the percentages of 8-cell embryos at 58 h and blastocysts at 82 h were significantly lower than the control. No antibiotic treatment improved hamster embryo development in vitro. We caution against the use of penicillin and streptomycin together for hamster embryo culture, and show that it is not necessary to include any antibiotics in embryo culture media for up to 72 h if proper sterile technique is used with an oil overlay. (C) 2000 by Elsevier Science Inc.

The natural life history of milkfish

Following brief descriptions of the various phases in the natural life history of the milkfish (Chanos chanos), namely adults, eggs and embryos, larvae, fry and metamorphosis, juveniles and sub-adults, a summary is provided of the life history, providing also a schematic diagram.