Sea Urchin Gametogenesis – Structural, Functional and Molecular/Genomic Biology

Autophagy as a defense strategy against stress: focus on Paracentrotus lividus sea urchin embryos exposed to cadmium

“…The sea urchin embryo is an exceptional model organism for developmental research mainly because of its rapid development, transparency, and easy manipulation, as well as thanks to the large number of gametes that can be easily obtained from adult urchins and the external fertilization (Chiarelli and Roccheri 2013;Walker et al 2013). Sea urchin embryos are also ideal organisms for in vivo toxicity test, because of their ability to modulate different defense strategies, depending on the nature of the physical or chemical stress.…”

An ultrastructural study of testes permeability in sea urchins, Strongylocentrotus intermedius

“…The authors supposed that many of echinoid species possess these chambers, and their existence may explain many features of sea urchins' gametogenesis, such as the structural support of developing germ cells and the storage and supply of nutrients (for details, see Walker et al, 2005Walker et al, , 2007Walker et al, , 2013.…”

“…By the time of collection, the animals were at the gametogensis and nutritive phagocytes utilization stage of the annual reproductive cycle (for details on the stages of gametogenesis, see Walker et al, 2013). For electron microscopic studies, two types of fixation were used.…”

Introductory Chapter: Sea Urchin - Knowledge and Perspectives

“…oogonia or spermatogonia and (ii) somatic cells, called nutritive phagocytes, present in both sexes, in which nutrient storage occurs. Nutritive phagocytes are somatic cells that provide a structural and nutritional microenvironment for germinal cells during gametogenesis [33]. The oocytes of sea urchin, differently from other Echinoderms and other animals, complete meiotic maturation before fertilization.…”