The dependence of cytoplasmic structures in the egg of the sea urchin on the ionic balance of the environment

✍ Scribed by Moore, A. R.

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 1932
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 635 KB
• Volume: 2
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0095-9898
• DOI: 10.1002/jcp.1030020105

✦ Synopsis

Three years ago I showed that if the unfertilized eggs of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus are exposed for a minute o r longer to a solution of non-electrolyte (urea or glycerol), isosmotic with sea water and at a p H of 7 or 8, such eggs lose irreversibly the power of forming membranes when fertilized( 1) This observation has since been confirmed for the starfish Patiria miniata(2), the sand dollar Dendraster eccentricus (3,4), and two European sea urchins, Paracentrotus lividus ( 5 ) and Echinus microtuberculatus (6). The phenomenon thus appears to be a general one and therefore worth further investigation.