ANTIBODIES AGAINST MOUSE OVARIES AND THEIR EFFECT ON FERTILIZATION IN VITRO AND IN VIVO IN THE MOUSE

Abstract

Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics, Department of Genetics, Libkhov, Czechoslovakia (Received 12th July 1974) Recent studies on the antigenicity and immunogenicity of mammalian ovaries and eggs have shown that iso- or heteroimmunization with ovarian tissue will yield antibodies with which several ovarian antigens can be detected. Immunofluorescence techniques have shown that these antigens are localized in the zona pellucida, the theca interna and in atretic follicles (Porter, 1965; Porter, Highfill & Winovich, 1970a, b; Ownby & Shivers, 1972; Sacco & Shivers, 1973a, b, c, d). Antisera (by precipitate formation) modified the surface of the zona pellucida of hamster and rabbit ova to such an extent that it even became inert to the lytic effects of trypsin (Ownby & Shivers, 1972; Sacco & Shivers, 1973a). In hamsters, these antibodies blocked penetration of the zona pellucida by spermatozoa in vitro (Shivers, Dudkiewicz, Franklin & Fussell, 1972). Shahani,