Fine Structures of Oocytes and Accessory Cells of the Ovary in the Starfish Patiria (Asterina) pectinifera at Different Stages of Oogenesis and After 1-Methyladenine-Induced Maturation

Morphological changes in the growing and maturing oocytes of Patiria ( Asterina ) pectinifero were studied by electron microscopy. Oogenesis is of the solitary type. An extensive system of rough endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and Golgi complex (GC) develops in the ooplasm forming the cortical, yolk and secretory granules in its peripheral regions. The contents of the latter granules are released from the oocyte and form the vitelline membrane. At early stages of oogenesis, extensive multiplication of mitochondria results in formation of a large aggregate of these organelles in the perinuclear cytoplasm ("yolk nucleus"). After maturation of full grown oocytes has been induced by 1-methyladenine, the membranous cell structures are rapidly rearranged: vast aggregates of ER cisternae in the surface cytoplasm layer and single ER cisternae among yolk granules are disintegrated to small vesicles; the GC is reduced. These processes are suggested to be somehow related to changes in hydration of the cytoplasm and in rigidity of its surface layer. In maturing oocytes, the yolk granules form characteristic linear rows, trabeculae, traversing the cytoplasm and their boundary membranes fuse in zones of contact. Some granules are converted to multivesicular bodies, thus suggesting the activation of hydrolytic enzymes that form part of the yolk in echinoderms.