ISSN:
0192-253X
Keywords:
Fertility
;
sex-reversal
;
XY ovary
;
XY oocyte
;
mouse
;
Life and Medical Sciences
;
Genetics
Source:
Wiley InterScience Backfile Collection 1832-2000
Topics:
Biology
Notes:
When the Y chromosome of a Mus musculus domesticus mouse strain is placed onto the C57BL/6J (B6) inbred background, the XY progeny develop ovaries or ovotestes but never normal testes during fetal life. While some of the hermaphroditic males become fertile, none of the XY females produces litters. Here, we examined the fertility and development of oocytes derived from the XY female mouse. With or without preceding injection of gonadotropins, female mice were mated with normal B6 males, and their embryos were recovered at various developmental stages. In vitro fertilization was performed with the eggs recovered from the oviduct after treatment with go-nadotropins. Development of embryos was examined by both light and electron microscopy. The results indicate that the oocytes released from the B6.YDOM ovary were efficiently fertilized and often initiated the first cell cleavage, but all embryos died during early preimplantation periods. Even when oocytes were fertilized in vitro, minimizing their exposure to the XY oviduct/uterus environment, most embryos died at the 1- or 2-cell stage. A few exceptional embryos reached the 4- or 8-cell stage, but abnormalities were evident in both nuclear and cytoplasmic structures of all embryos. After cleavage, neighbouring blastomeres were only loosely associated, and microvilli were abundant at the intercellular interfaces. We postulate that oocytes of the B.6.YDOM female mouse become defective during XY ovarian differentiation, and, hence, fail to proceed through normal embryonic development. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Additional Material:
3 Ill.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/dvg.1020150506
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