Summary
Ovaries of immature and adult hamsters were incubated in medium containing thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP) to determine the age at which TPPase-reactive cytoplasmic structures first appear in the germ cells, and at what age the structures cease to be present. The structures were found only in oocytes from animals 8–15 days of age. They occur in predictyate germ cells in polyovular follicles and in very early dictyate oocytes in unilaminar follicles. The TPPase-reactive structures were never observed in atretic oocytes, in unilaminar follicles of adult animals, nor in multilaminar follicles of animals at any age.
Ovaries of 8–12-day-old animals and adults were then incubated in media in which one of the following substrates was substituted for TPP: uridine diphosphate (UDP), inosine diphosphate (IDP), and adenosine monophosphate (AMP). Half of the samples in each experiment were incubated in medium containing the inhibitor L-p-bromotet-ramisole. β-Glycerophosphate was used in control incubations, or the substrate was omitted entirely.
The cytoplasmic structures were found to be reactive after incubation in UDP-containing media, but not after incubation in media containing AMP. With IDP as substrate, reactions were atypical and confined to peripheral regions of the cytoplasm.
Other sites of enzyme activity after incubation with the various substrates (cell membranes, zona pellucida, endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus) are also described and discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baker TG, Neal P (1973) Initiation and control of meiosis and follicular growth in ovaries of the mouse. Anni Biol Anim Biochim Biophys 13:137–144
Borgers M, Thoné F (1975) The inhibition of alkaline phosphatase by L-p-bromotetramisole. Histochemistry 44:277–280
Borgers M, Schaper J, Schaper W (1971) Localization of specific phosphatase activities in canine coronary blood vessels and heart muscle. J Histochem Cytochem 19:526–539
Challoner S (1974) Studies of oogenesis and follicular development in the golden hamster 1. A quantitative study of meiotic prophase in vitro. J Anat 117:373–383
Challoner S (1975) Studies of oogenesis and follicular development in the golden hamster. 3. The initiation of follicular growth in vitro. J Anat 119:157–162
Creemers J, Jacques PJ (1971) Endocytic uptake and vesicular transport of injected horseradish peroxidase in the vacuolar apparatus of rat liver cells. Exp Cell Res 67:188–203
Essner E (1973) Phosphatases. In: MA Hayat (ed) Electron microscopy of enzymes, principles and methods, vol 1. Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York and London, p 65
Fawcett DW, Ito S, Slautterbach D (1959) The occurrence of intercellular bridges in groups of cells exhibiting synchronous differentiation. J Biophys Biochem Cytol 5:453–460
Firth JA, Marland BY (1975) The significance of inhibitor-resistant alkaline phosphatase in the cytochemical demonstration of transport ATPase. J Histochem Cytochem 23:571–574
Freiman D, Kaplan N (1960) Studies on the histochemical differentiation of enzymes hydrolysing ATP. J Histochem Cytochem 8:159–170
Jaeken L, Thinés-Sempoux D (1978) A three-dimensional study of organelle interrelationships in regenerating rat liver. 2. Transient connections with luminal continuity between thin-and thick-membraned organelles. Cell Biol Int Rep 2:515–524
Kessel RG, Decker RS (1971) Cytodifferentiation in the Rana pipiens oocyte III. Ultrastructural localization of nucleoside diphosphatase activity. J Submicr Cytol 3:239–253
Kessel RG, Decker RS (1972a) Cytodifferentiation in the Rana pipiens oocyte IV. Ultrastructural localization of thiamine pyrophosphatase and horseradish peroxidase. Z Zellforsch 126:1–16
Kessel RG, Decker RS (1972b) Cytodifferentiation in the Rana pipiens oocyte V. Ultrastructural localization of acid phosphatase activity in diplotene oocytes and their associated follicular envelope. J de Microscopie 14:169–182
Kuhn NJ, White A (1977) The role of nucleoside diphosphatase in a uridine nucleotide cycle associated with lactose synthesis in rat mammary gland Golgi apparatus. Biochem J 168:423–433
Luppa H, Bernstein HG, Weiss J (1979) Is thiamine pyrophosphate a reliable marker of the neuronal Golgi apparatus? A critical analysis. Basic Appl Histochem 23:1–8
Roth TF, Cutting JA, Atlas SB (1976) Protein transport: a selective membrane mechanism. J Supramol Struct 4:527–548
Steinman RM, Mellman IS, Muller WA, Cohn ZA (1983) Endocytosis and the recycling of plasma membrane. J Cell Biol 96:1–27
Teplitz K, Ohno S (1963) Postnatal induction of ovogenesis in the rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). Exp Cell Res 31:183–189
Weakley BS (1967) Light and electron microscopy of developing germ cells and follicle cells in the ovary of the golden hamster: twenty-four hours before birth to eight days post partum. J Anat 101:435–459
Weakley BS (1969) Granular cytoplasmic bodies in oocytes of the golden hamster during the post-natal period. Z Zellforsch 101:394–400
Weakley BS (1971) Basic protein and ribonucleic acid in the cytoplasm of the ovarian oocyte in the golden hamster. Z Zellforsch 112:69–84
Weakley BS, James JL (1982a) Differentiation of endoplasmic reticulum in the developing oocyte of the golden hamster (Meso-cricetus auratus). Cell Tissue Res 223:127–139
Weakley BS, Webb P, James JL (1981) Cytochemistry of the Golgi apparatus in developing ovarian germ cells of the Syrian hamster. Cell Tissue Res 220:349–372
Weakley BS, Webb P, James JL (1982b) Intake of phosphataseactive plasma membrane into the cytoplasm of oocytes from sexually immature hamsters. J Cell Sci 57:161–175
Yusko SC, Roth TF (1976) Binding to specific receptors on oocyte plasma membranes by serum phosvitin-lipovitellin. J Supramol Struct 4:89–97
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Weakley, B.S., Bowker, S.J. & James, J.L. Enzyme studies on TPPase-reactive cytoplasmic structures observed in early meiotic prophase I of the hamster oocyte. Cell Tissue Res. 235, 379–386 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00217863
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00217863