Physiological Studies on the Function of Biological Membrane: Structural Changes of the Vitelline Envelopes during Oogenesis of a Polychaete, Nectoneanthes oxypoda

생체막의 기능에 대한 생리학적 연구: 갯지렁이 Nectoneanthes oxypoda의 난자형성단계에 따른 난황막의 구조적 변화

Structural changes of the vitelline envelopes during oogenesis of a polychaete, Nectoneanthes oxypoda, were examined with a scanning electron micrscope. Oocytes grow in the same coelomic fluid to the final stage, but the surface appears to change in the structure during oogenesis. Projections, which were identified to be microvilli, change in shape, number and size. Short microvilli, which cover the surface of oocyte of $33{\mu}m$ diameter densely, grow in length, reaching a maximum at the stage of $73{\mu}m$. The number of microvilli increases with the stages of oogenesis, reaching a plateau at the stage of $82{\mu}m$. The observations suggest that control of material transport including yolk precursor proteins may be correlated with the structural changes in the microvilli.