Abstract
Dielectric spectroscopy has been used to monitor the early embryogenesis offrog (Xenopus laevis) eggs. The dielectric spectra of a single egg insuspension over the frequency range 10 Hz to 10 MHz were collected atvarious stages of its development. The uncleaved egg showed a dielectricdispersion with a narrow distribution of relaxation times. After the firstcleavage, the dielectric spectra were mainly composed of twosubdispersions. In the cleavage process, up to the morula stage, changes inthe spectra were quantitatively simulated by the `cell-aggregate' model inwhich the embryo is regarded as a concentrated suspension of shell-spheresthat correspond to the blastomeres (i.e. the cells within the embryo). Inthe stages from the morula to the blastula, the changes in the dielectricspectra were explained as due to a reduction in the size of the blastomereaccompanied by an expansion of the blastocoel (i.e. the central cavity inthe embryo) using the `vesicle-inclusion' model that is a cell aggregatecovered with a less conducting shell corresponding to the outermost layerof tightly interconnected cells.
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