STUDIES ON A CORTICAL LAYER RESPONSE TO STIMULATING AGENTS IN THE ARBACIA EGG

III. RESPONSE TO NON-ELECTROLYTES

¹ From the Zoölogical Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania; and the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass.

1. Arbacia punctulata eggs treated with molar concentrations of non-electrolyte solutions (urea, thiourea, glycerine or sucrose) exhibit essentially the same kind of visible cortical response as that obtained with sperm cells and other stimulating agents.

2. Typically the cortical response to non-electrolyte solutions results in the formation of a perivitelline space which is from two to three times as wide as that obtained upon insemination.

3. Continued exposure to non-electrolyte solution following the visible cortical response results in the dissolution of the fertilization membrane.

4. Since activation, however incomplete, is obtained upon treatment with non-electrolyte solutions, these solutions may be regarded as being artificial parthenogenetic agents.

5. Fertilization has been superposed upon the incomplete activation obtained in the presence of non-electrolyte solutions.

6. Within certain limits, as the length of exposure to the non-electrolyte solution increases, an increase in the percentage of blastulae among the inseminated treated eggs occurs; this fact may be correlated with (3) above.

7. It has been suggested that results reported by Moore (1930a, 1930b), Moore and Moore (1931), Motomura (1934, 1938), and Chase (1935) may be explained on the basis of the observations and results presented in this paper.

8. The amoeboid activity of Arbacia eggs treated with urea has been briefly described.

9. The observations and results presented in this paper are essentially in agreement with the views considered in the earlier papers of the present series (Moser, 1939a, 1939b).

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