Zinc Sparks Are Triggered by Fertilization and Facilitate Cell Cycle Resumption in Mammalian Eggs

Abstract excerpt

In last few hours of maturation, the mouse oocyte takes up over twenty billion zinc atoms and arrests after the first meiotic division, until fertilization or pharmacological intervention stimulates cell cycle progression toward a new embryo. Using chemical and physical probes, we show that fertilization of the mature, zinc-enriched egg triggers the ejection of zinc into the extracellular milieu in a series of...

Topics

Share this publication in a Topic to start or enrich a Post.

• Share to Reproductive Biology and Fertility
• Share to Trace Elements in Health