Investigating Interaction of Water With Primary Membranes of Fish Eggs as Signal for Their Restructuring

Abstract

The article outlines studying the interaction of water with the primary membranes of fish eggs as a signal for their restructuring, which is important for developing the cryopreservation techniques. The reproductive cells of sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus Linnaeus, 1758) obtained during the spawning campaign served as the object of research. Water as a main activator of the functions of fish reproductive cells contacting with primary membranes of eggs (two yellows and one surface jelly-like) triggers a mechanism that changes the structure and functional activity of eggs, stimulates the preparation of eggs for fertilization, provoking the rearrangement of organelles and changes in the membranes. The latter are activated contacting with water and, regardless of the fact of fertilization, acquire various properties (stickiness, buoyancy, increased strength) necessary for the further development of embryos, depending on the conditions of incubation. Changes in the properties of the membranes are stipulated by the presence of certain fatty acids, further chemical transformations of which are the main factor of their changes, according to the biology of reproduction.