Cytokeratin filaments are present in golden hamster oocytes and early embryos

The Mammalian Oocyte

“…89 Subsequent to this work on the hamster, and following the earlier studies in the mouse, 7 the Capco 90-92 and Coonrod 93-96 laboratories have made major contributions to our understanding of the role of intermediate filaments in these rodent species. 89 Subsequent to this work on the hamster, and following the earlier studies in the mouse, 7 the Capco 90-92 and Coonrod 93-96 laboratories have made major contributions to our understanding of the role of intermediate filaments in these rodent species.…”

Cytokeratin dynamics during oocyte maturation in the hamster requires reaching of metaphase I

“…Cytoskeleton-mediated processes are involved in the final stages of female gamete formation, including meiotic progression and first polar body emission [2,3]; in the process of fertilization, including second polar body emission, pronuclear formation and migration [46,61,62]; and in the process of compaction during pre-implantation embryo development [21,47]. In mammals, the organization and dynamics of cytoplasmic intermediate filaments during oocyte maturation have never been described, and there is still limited information available regarding early embryogenesis [7,12,25,43,44,52,53,60]. In mammals, the organization and dynamics of cytoplasmic intermediate filaments during oocyte maturation have never been described, and there is still limited information available regarding early embryogenesis [7,12,25,43,44,52,53,60].…”

Ontogeny of the cytoskeleton during mammalian oogenesis

“…However, our analyses of mature mouse oocytes suggest furthermore, that rather than acting simply as storage sites for cytokeratin protein, the sheets are composed of arrays of assembled intermediate filaments ( Fig. 5; Gallicano et al, 1991 Plancha et al (1989) have described clusters of intermediate filaments in hamster oocytes which were viewed as whole mounts in the TEM, after extraction in buffer containing a high concentration of salt and cytochemical fixation. Immunocytochemical analysis of such specimens demonstrated that the clusters of 10 nm filaments were composed of cytokeratin (Plancha et al, 1989).…”

“…5; Gallicano et al, 1991 Plancha et al (1989) have described clusters of intermediate filaments in hamster oocytes which were viewed as whole mounts in the TEM, after extraction in buffer containing a high concentration of salt and cytochemical fixation. Immunocytochemical analysis of such specimens demonstrated that the clusters of 10 nm filaments were composed of cytokeratin (Plancha et al, 1989). These clusters of 10 nm filaments are likely to be derived from the cytoskeletal sheets as we have observed that extraction in high salt rapidly disassembles sheets into 10 nm filaments (McGaughey and Capco, 1989).…”