Effects of cytochalasin B on meiosis and development of fertilized and activated eggs of Sabellaria alveolata L. (Polychaete Annelid)

Abstract

ABSTRACT Unfertilized, fertilized and activated eggs of Sabellaria alveolata were submitted to cytochalasin B concentrations ranging from 0·1 to 20 μg/ml. Their behaviour was studied either in vivo or in acetocarmine squash preparations. Polar body extrusion, cytokinesis and polar lobe formation are completely inhibited by cytochalasin B concentrations as low as 0·3–0·5 μg/ml. Caryotype determinations demonstrate that chromosomal meiotic and mitotic processes are not affected by the drug. Thus, polyploid embryos usually developed from fertilized eggs whilst they did not from activated ones. This is related to the contrasting behaviour of meiotic and cleavage centres. While the latter duplicates at each cycle, the former cannot replicate at the end of meiosis. This leads to an abortive monastral stage even if inhibition of polar body extrusion has provided the egg with two or four centres. These observations suggest the existence of an internal mechanism regulating the number of effective centrioles at the end of meiosis. They demonstrate also that the main cause of developmental failure in activated eggs cannot be related to ploidy. Eggs treated throughout meiosis with moderate drug concentrations developed into swimming larvae. However, frequent developmental abnormalities affecting lobe dependent structures were obtained even if polar lobe formation was unimpaired. This suggests either that cytochalasin B has irreversibly affected some decisive cortical element or that previously described activating processes, which begin with polar lobe formation, are actually exerted on specific materials segregated during meiosis.