Radical Oxygen Species in a Degrading Egg Cell

Radical Oxygen Species in a Degrading Egg Cell

Submitted by Allison Hamilos and Dolores Busso of the Krieger Laboratory in the Department of Biology

MIT Department of Biology

Allison Hamilos and Dolores Busso
Krieger Laboratory, Department of Biology
Epi-Fluorescence Micrograph

"We wanted to find clues toward elucidating the mechanism of death of oocytes lacking the cell surface receptor SR-BI.  Oocytes were stained to detect elevated amounts of radical oxygen species that could be responsible in part for the oocyte’s death mechanism. Here, one of the oocyte’s degrading polar bodies has stolen the spotlight, its intense fluorescence outshining that of the mature oocyte. The presence of radical oxygen species in the polar body offers insight into the mechanism of its degradation."