Swelling Mechanism of the Embryo of the Japanese Horseshoe Crab, Tachypleus tridentatus

概要

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The inner egg membrane of the horseshoe crab, Tachypleus tridentatus, is permeable to Na^+, Cl^-, and Ca^<++> ions. Hexose and uronic acid were not as abundant in the perivitelline fluid compared with protein. Therefore, these inorganic ions and carbohydrates are supposedly not the main factors in swelling the membrane. Hemocyanin secreted into the pervitelline fluid by the embryo does not always seem to work actively in swelling the membrane, in spite of the large quantity of this protein found in the fluid. The present results indicate that the increase of the perivitelline fluid during embryonic development is not due to a positive expansion of the inner egg membrane, but rather, to the presence of internal osmotic pressure. However, no homogeneous protein could be regarded as the substantially active factor in the fluid. Among with development, the concentration of proteins in the fluid decreases, which probably causes a decrease in osmotic pressure of the perivitelline fluid. The strengh of the inner egg membrane against tension decreased during development, thus permitting the expansion of the membrane under decreasing osmotic pressure.
社団法人日本動物学会の論文
1981-09-25