CYTOPLASMIC REGIONALIZATION IN STARFISH OOCYTE OCCURRENCE AND LOCALIZATION OF CYTOPLASMIC DETERMINANTS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE FORMATION OF ARCHENTERON AND PRIMARY MESENCHYME IN STARFISH (ASTERIAS AMURENSIS) OOCYTES

Starfish oocytes with intact germinal vesicles (GVs) were cut along desired planes with glass needles or ligated using silk thread loops into two parts and allowed to mature in vitro, and inseminated. The experimental results showed that (1) only the parts with GVs or partial GV contents (PGVCs) cleaved, those without any GV materials did not; but nucleated and non-nucleated fragments cut from mature eggs were able to divide; (2) the development of animal parts of oocytes containing GVs or PGVGs was like that of animal fragments of matured oocytes with female pronuclei; most of them gave rise to permanent blastulae. and just a few formed ectodermal vesicles with a little primary mesenchyme; (3) a large part of vegetal fragments with GVs or PGVCs. and the vegetal parts of mature eggs without female pronuclei developed into small but normal embryos; (4) the fragments containing GVs or PGVCs obtained from the oocytes along a plane parallel to the animal-vegetal (A-V) axis developed as normally as the halve