ANTIMITOTIC SUBSTANCES FROM OVARIES

¹ Department of Zoology, University of Pennsylvania, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts

1. Starfish ovaries contain a substance which prevents maturation divisions in the eggs contained in these ovaries.

2. By homogenizing starfish ovaries before extracting them with acid sea water, we have been able to prepare antimitotic extracts much more powerful in their action on Chaetopterus eggs than the extracts reported on previously.

3. There is additional many-sided evidence to indicate that the potent substance in these extracts is a heparin-like compound. Some of this evidence comes from chromatographic studies; also from studies of the absorption spectrum of the extract. Moreover, the potency of the extract disappears after treatment with periodate.

4. Ovaries of various species of fishes contain antimitotic substances which resemble in their action the substance or substances in starfish ovary extracts. In at least one family of fishes, the ovaries are known to contain a potent substance of heparin-like chemical composition and heparin-like properties.

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